Help Lia Fight Breast Cancer
Donation protected
Many of us in the SPN fandom are friends and followers of Lia, aka bangingpatchouli. Chances are you’ve seen her extensive meta cross your dash or enjoyed one of her deep, dark, twisty fics over on her sylsdarkplace account on Live Journal or AO3. Or maybe you were a reader of her lighter stuff and Wincest fics on her old Cheebles LJ (now on sylsdarkplace). What you may not know is that she’s started a side blog about her recent breast cancer diagnosis: killertatas .
On April 9th, after a month of testing that included a mammogram, an ultrasound, and a needle biopsy, the doctors told Lia she has invasive carcinoma that is positive for HER2, which is an aggressive form of cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer has already spread to three lymph nodes, too. In short, it’s serious.
Not one to take anything lying own, our friend just began her long fight against cancer in what will be an intense summer of chemo that is only the first battlefield in a long war. She just completed her first two sessions in May and faces four more chemo sessions every three weeks through August. Then, this fall she’ll have a radical double mastectomy and eventual reconstruction. And even after all that, she will still have an additional nine months of Herceptin treatment to continue to target the aggressive HER2 cancer and keep it from returning and spreading, as it likes to do. All in all, it’s going to be a long year for her at the very least.
Lia is being a real sport about it all, but the diagnostic testing, bone and heart scans, port insertion, treatment schedule, and legions of nasty side effects have already have her wiped out physically, emotionally, and financially here at the very start of her journey. As you well know, the health care system in the U.S. is flawed beyond description, and getting sick can be economically catastrophic for us. Lia’s situation is compounded by two factors:
First, her husband was injured on his job a year ago and has been out of work ever since. The two of them are completely and solely dependent on Lia’s job for their insurance coverage and only income right now, so she has to continue to be the breadwinner while sick and tired and in pain from treatments and her surgery. It’s like the Mobius strip from hell – she needs her job to be able to fight for her life, but she has to keep getting up and going to work every day while she’s in the fight for her life.
Second, her doctor’s appointments, chemo and Herceptin treatments, and surgery all take place at a university hospital that is a three-hour round-trip from the small town where she lives. This means that the astronomical doctor and hospital bills, prescription fees, and costs of over-the-counter remedies are all compounded by travel expenses like gas and meals for Lia and her husband, which is averaging an extra $60-70 per chemo treatment. In essence, her literal cost of living is unfairly higher than it would be if she had medical options near her home – but she doesn’t. Our friend is just getting constantly kicked while she’s down and dealing with it all through losing her hair, losing her lunch, nosebleeds, headaches, muscle pain, and the knowledge that she’s going to lose body parts, too -- and it’s going to get so so so much worse before it even begins to get better. And she does it all while going to work every day and coming home to bills that are getting harder and harder to pay every week. There’s only so much one person can do…or take.
I quickly got sick of feeling helpless about my friend’s cancer and realized that I don’t have to and neither does Lia, because she has the SPNFamily behind her, and we all know that this family comes running when one of us needs help. I’ve seen y’all do some truly amazing things on each other’s behalves -- look at how both #AlwaysKeepFighting campaigns went -- and I’m praying y’all can do it again now. I know that this fandom can move mountains, and so I’m asking – begging – for your help to move a mountain for one of our own right now.
I don't have a huge fiscal goal for this fundraiser -- even if it just helps with gas and meals when they travel to treatments or provides something to offset the cost of wigs or prescriptions. Money to help Lia and her husband get a hotel room if she’s too sick to travel home from chemo or if her husband needs a place to stay while he’s down there with her for her surgery would be great. My personal goal is enough financial assistance for her to get a massage after her chemo treatments to help with pain and lower her stress hormones, since cancer feeds on stress. She's having a lot of muscle pain, and the drugs they've given her for it make her sick and tired on top of being sick and tired. I don’t think she’s ever had a massage, and they really help with anxiety and healing. It's important that she be able to relax and rest as much as possible -- which is difficult when you're the breadwinner. We might be able to help her do that and beat this thing. And Chuck knows, if we’re able to go above and beyond to help pay her mounting medical bills, even better! I would not be surprised if y’all really come through and make that happen.
Lia’s a fighter, but she’s already really feeling the financial pinch after just two chemo treatments, and she has a long row to hoe ahead of her. I have to be honest -- I don't know how they're going to make it if we don't help, and so I’m asking you to rally behind her. I also think she needs to feel like people care and are in this fight with her. She's given so much to this community, and she really needs it to give back to help her always keep fighting. She has love and support in her real life, but we need to do it here, too – and with our large numbers, we have the capacity to make the biggest difference for her. Small donations really add up fast. Even donations of $5 and a quick reblog letting your followers know that you gave and urging them to do the same will mean SO much. Enough folks contributing and sharing in any way that is comfortable for them will really add up to pay for meals, gas, meds, bills, and lots of little things that are just nickel-and-diming Lia to death. Literally. After five years with us, she is a cornerstone of this fandom and one of my best friends. I – we -- just can't lose her. Please, PLEASE help me help her.
Every little bit helps. Please donate what you can. Reblog this link here and post it on your Twitter. Spread the word far and wide and help our sister kick cancer in the ass, SPNFamily!
Thank you!
vennstiel
On April 9th, after a month of testing that included a mammogram, an ultrasound, and a needle biopsy, the doctors told Lia she has invasive carcinoma that is positive for HER2, which is an aggressive form of cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer has already spread to three lymph nodes, too. In short, it’s serious.
Not one to take anything lying own, our friend just began her long fight against cancer in what will be an intense summer of chemo that is only the first battlefield in a long war. She just completed her first two sessions in May and faces four more chemo sessions every three weeks through August. Then, this fall she’ll have a radical double mastectomy and eventual reconstruction. And even after all that, she will still have an additional nine months of Herceptin treatment to continue to target the aggressive HER2 cancer and keep it from returning and spreading, as it likes to do. All in all, it’s going to be a long year for her at the very least.
Lia is being a real sport about it all, but the diagnostic testing, bone and heart scans, port insertion, treatment schedule, and legions of nasty side effects have already have her wiped out physically, emotionally, and financially here at the very start of her journey. As you well know, the health care system in the U.S. is flawed beyond description, and getting sick can be economically catastrophic for us. Lia’s situation is compounded by two factors:
First, her husband was injured on his job a year ago and has been out of work ever since. The two of them are completely and solely dependent on Lia’s job for their insurance coverage and only income right now, so she has to continue to be the breadwinner while sick and tired and in pain from treatments and her surgery. It’s like the Mobius strip from hell – she needs her job to be able to fight for her life, but she has to keep getting up and going to work every day while she’s in the fight for her life.
Second, her doctor’s appointments, chemo and Herceptin treatments, and surgery all take place at a university hospital that is a three-hour round-trip from the small town where she lives. This means that the astronomical doctor and hospital bills, prescription fees, and costs of over-the-counter remedies are all compounded by travel expenses like gas and meals for Lia and her husband, which is averaging an extra $60-70 per chemo treatment. In essence, her literal cost of living is unfairly higher than it would be if she had medical options near her home – but she doesn’t. Our friend is just getting constantly kicked while she’s down and dealing with it all through losing her hair, losing her lunch, nosebleeds, headaches, muscle pain, and the knowledge that she’s going to lose body parts, too -- and it’s going to get so so so much worse before it even begins to get better. And she does it all while going to work every day and coming home to bills that are getting harder and harder to pay every week. There’s only so much one person can do…or take.
I quickly got sick of feeling helpless about my friend’s cancer and realized that I don’t have to and neither does Lia, because she has the SPNFamily behind her, and we all know that this family comes running when one of us needs help. I’ve seen y’all do some truly amazing things on each other’s behalves -- look at how both #AlwaysKeepFighting campaigns went -- and I’m praying y’all can do it again now. I know that this fandom can move mountains, and so I’m asking – begging – for your help to move a mountain for one of our own right now.
I don't have a huge fiscal goal for this fundraiser -- even if it just helps with gas and meals when they travel to treatments or provides something to offset the cost of wigs or prescriptions. Money to help Lia and her husband get a hotel room if she’s too sick to travel home from chemo or if her husband needs a place to stay while he’s down there with her for her surgery would be great. My personal goal is enough financial assistance for her to get a massage after her chemo treatments to help with pain and lower her stress hormones, since cancer feeds on stress. She's having a lot of muscle pain, and the drugs they've given her for it make her sick and tired on top of being sick and tired. I don’t think she’s ever had a massage, and they really help with anxiety and healing. It's important that she be able to relax and rest as much as possible -- which is difficult when you're the breadwinner. We might be able to help her do that and beat this thing. And Chuck knows, if we’re able to go above and beyond to help pay her mounting medical bills, even better! I would not be surprised if y’all really come through and make that happen.
Lia’s a fighter, but she’s already really feeling the financial pinch after just two chemo treatments, and she has a long row to hoe ahead of her. I have to be honest -- I don't know how they're going to make it if we don't help, and so I’m asking you to rally behind her. I also think she needs to feel like people care and are in this fight with her. She's given so much to this community, and she really needs it to give back to help her always keep fighting. She has love and support in her real life, but we need to do it here, too – and with our large numbers, we have the capacity to make the biggest difference for her. Small donations really add up fast. Even donations of $5 and a quick reblog letting your followers know that you gave and urging them to do the same will mean SO much. Enough folks contributing and sharing in any way that is comfortable for them will really add up to pay for meals, gas, meds, bills, and lots of little things that are just nickel-and-diming Lia to death. Literally. After five years with us, she is a cornerstone of this fandom and one of my best friends. I – we -- just can't lose her. Please, PLEASE help me help her.
Every little bit helps. Please donate what you can. Reblog this link here and post it on your Twitter. Spread the word far and wide and help our sister kick cancer in the ass, SPNFamily!
Thank you!
vennstiel
Organizer and beneficiary
venn stiel
Organizer
Denver, CO
Lisa Dunbar
Beneficiary
