Sara: young mother, invasive cancer

The above two photos are recent and demonstrate the devastation that stage 3 invasive ductile carcinoma breast cancer has had on my lovely (inside and out) daughter. This type of cancer is fueled by estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 +, a protein that aggressively promotes growth of cancer cells. Cancer has spread throughout her lymphatic system in addition to her breasts.  She was diagnosed in October 2017.

She has undergone almost 5 months of chemo. Next she will undergo radiation therapy followed by a double mastectomy, and either a hysterectomy or 10 years of hormone suppression meds. 

Sara is a young mother, wife, a hard working breadwinner who has too much living to get on with. She is well-loved, tries to stay  positive, and has a lot of grit to where she can care for her family.

Everyday she gets up, puts her boots on, gets her kids to school and then works all day as a business analyst for a financial organization.  She takes all that normal stress in stride, even with fatigue and pain. 

There is  the stress of the cancer diagnosis, which she deals with as best she can. However the associated stressors are significant and interfering with her recovery at this point.

Money is a huge, dire problem.  Although she has decent insurance (pays 80%) the other 20% that she has to cover is growing past her control.  It is causing severe financial hardship to where she is unable to meet her basic needs such as shelter and food, not to mention out of pocket medication and other "luxuries."

Treatment is very expensive. Bill collectors are already after her and 1/3 of her monthly salary has been garnished to pay medical bills after only 5 months of treatment! There is also the issue of lost wages. Many times she has been too sick to go to work. She has used all of her sick leave, so if she is too sick to work -  more lost wages. 

This feels unfair and very heartbreaking. The aggressive bill collection is drowning her spirits and is making it difficult to keep food on the table. Help me to help her reduce this money stress.  We all thank you in advance to any donation you are able to make.