Back in 2011, Jen went to the doctor because she was concerned that she had sustained a running injury. After going to PT with no improvement she was referred to get a scan which showed a mass of some kind. A biopsy showed that she had a mixoid liposarcoma in her lower abdominal cavity. She received 25 days of radiation at Strong Memorial Hospital and then had a massive surgery at Dana Farber in Boston to remove the tumor. She was unable to sit for weeks and her recovery was long and slow. She traveled to Boston multiple times a year for scans and everything always came back positive. She had beaten this terrible disease!
At a routine annual appointment this past June her doctors at Dana Farber saw something and did a biopsy. She was diagnosed with cancer again and they believed it to be a radiation associated tumor. The very same radiation that shrunk her initial liposarcoma by half had now actually caused a new cancer. She underwent another massive surgery on September 5th. The pathology report came back and now we know Jen is dealing with an MPNST (malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor). It is a high grade,extremely rare tumor. Based on the tumor’s location and what it was touching the surgeon chose to complete the surgery without getting clear margins with the hope that her overall quality of life would be better. Therefore, Jen needs an additional 33 days of radiation in Boston so that her team can monitor her closely. Her body did not respond well to radiation the first time and she suffered from extensive burns. She will then need 4 cycles of chemotherapy (3-5 days a week with 2 weeks off in between). Jen can certainly not work during any part of this process. She will need to be in Boston for 7 weeks through Thanksgiving and Christmas. Obviously, she is going to incur many financial obstacles and we want to do anything we can to offset these costs.

#strongerthansarcoma