Support for Angie Gildea

Let us tell you about the bravest most positive woman we know.   Angie Gildea  is an amazing mother, daughter, sister,  and friend.  Angie is a 42 year old mother of 2 beautiful girls, Reese and Logan.  She was diagnosed with Stage 4  Colorectal Cancer on March 10,  2015 when a large tumor was discovered  during a colonoscopy.  In the weeks that followed she also was told that the cancer had spread to her liver.  

Since her initial diagnosis Angie had an almost year long battle that included surgery to remove the tumor and a portion of her colon, a painful liver resection to remove the cancer and a portion of her liver and a round of chemotherapy, that left her feeling like she had a continuous flu and making everything she ate or drank taste like metal.  

Through it all Angie has maintained her amazing sense of humor and positive attitude which resulted in a "cancer free" diagnosis .  She amazed her surgeons, nurses and all of us who love her with her resilience and ability to continue to bounce back through each stage of her fight for her life.

Angie moved forward cautiously with her life , feeling  blessed that she was able to get through this difficult period , while maintaining a cautious optimism that the cancer wouldn't reoccur.  She went back to work and things returned to a somewhat normal existence.  

During one of her routine follow-up appointments in May of this year,  Angie found out that the cancer was back and that it had spread to the lower lobe of her lung.  This was heartbreaking for Angie and those of us that love her.  As many of you know who have had loved ones who have battled for their lives, it just didn't seem fair....not Angie... how much can one person take?

Angie approached it as she did previously , allowing herself a day or two to grieve and be angry,  but moving forward with her sense of humor intact and a desire to "just get rid of it".   She traveled to the University of Michigan and met with an oncologist who felt that she should have surgery to remove the tumor from her lung and then decide what the next step would be once they were able to see if the tumor had spread further.

Angie went through a lower lobe resection and they were able to remove all of the tumor.  However, during the surgery they could see that the tumor was yet again trying to spread and was an aggressive form.  It was recommended that Angie go through another 5 months of a stronger Chemotherapy with an obvious goal to get rid of this Cancer for good.

Angie is in for a difficult 5 months of Chemo and time after that to recover and heal.  The side effects of this type of Chemotherapy will be much more difficult than her last round.  As a result , Angie will have to be on   disability causing her income to be cut significantly.  

Angie is a one income household after a divorce so we are looking for support to help her get through this next chapter, without the additional financial stress that being on disablility will cause her.   The funds being raised will be used to supplement Angie's income so she can focus her energy on her fight .  

We are so thankful for any support that you can give and if you are not able to give financially, prayers on Angie's behalf are greatly appreciated.

The Nauta Family