Mandy's cancer journey

Hi. My name is Carli and I'm fundraising for a beautiful momma and her family, to ease the burden of the piling up bill's, while she navigates her cancer journey. Here is her story.

Mandy is a loving Mama to 3 children, 2 girls, ages 20 and 12, and a little boy, age 5. Those who know her know she has had her share of ups and downs health wise. This past October, Mandy was diagnosed with Stage 1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, breast cancer, after a self exam. What she was told should be an "easy fix" by one surgeon has turned her and her family's lives upside down. Not confident or comfortable with being put off for over a month by the first surgeon, she sought a second opinion. Within two weeks’ time, Mandy was undergoing the first operation to remove the masses in her breast. Along with the masses, sentinel lymphnodes were removed to be sure the cancer was not present in them. It seemed unlikely. Wrong. She received a call that she needed another operation, this time to remove the axillary lymph nodes to prevent the cancer from spreading. Again, it was said it would be unlikely the cancer had traveled, but to be sure, a biopsy of removed lymphnodes was performed. Unfortunately, when the results came back, several of the lymphnodes were cancerous and the cancer had also broken through the lymphnodes to outside tissue. She was now diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer. She is now in a race against the clock to stop the cancer from developing tumors elsewhere in her body as it is in her lymphatic system. Mandy is undergoing an extensive, heavy, 8-cycle treatment of chemotherapy over the next 16 weeks. Once complete, she will need a full round of radiation and medication management for the next 10 years to hopefully prevent this specific cancer from returning. With no family history of cancer known, this diagnosis has come as a complete shock. Mandy was forced to stop working because having an autoimmune disorder known as Addisons Disease is hard enough, but factor in chemotherapy and it is a slippery slope. She has been accustomed to working two jobs. She was also attending college to obtain her CADC and LPC, which has now been put on hold also. After the first cycle of treatment, Mandy spent 2 days admitted to the hospital as she was having complications with her adrenal system due to the side effects of chemo. She and her boyfriend, Shane, along with the two children at home, are surviving on just his income alone. They have been at risk of losing their home they rent while they wait for Social Security for Mandy. To add to this, her two daughters have autoimmune disorders that affect their mobility and can tend to cause unbearable pain some days. While they are all working together to pitch in and help out, a paycheck can only go so far. They have sought help from outside sources and have been turned away due to technicalities with the lease and landlord. She is just trying to get by while waiting on the SSDI approval. Thankfully, she and her family are able to have help with food, but that program does not cover anything else like gas and tolls to get to and from all the various appointments for herself and children, car insurance, cell and internet service, which they cannot be without, along with the various other day-to-day expenses that come about. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated by Mandy, her family and support team.