T's Medical Bills

Hi, we're Julia and Jody and we're fundraising for our best friend, Tanya. Whether you know Tanya from her TV News anchoring and reporting days, town government, school teaching, church, neighborhood, or growing up together, we all love T!

The next sentence will be hard and perhaps surprising to read. Our dear friend Tanya has a rare, genetically-mutated aggressive colon cancer which metastasized to the lining of her abdomen and grew into a network of nodule tumors wrapping around her internal organs and has now spread into her liver and lungs. This cancer is currently terminal and we're hoping for medical breakthroughs in treatment options.

The varying chemo treatments and medications this past year have not worked and have been stopped. Tanya will begin an experimental treatment protocol, combining an existing cancer drug with a new drug formulated to disrupt the rapid cancer cell growth associated with this rare genetic mutation (KRAS G12C). We are hoping and believing this drug combination will stop the rapid growth of the mutated cancer cells and potentially even shrink the existing tumor nodules.

One of the drugs has an annual cost of about $233,000 and the other costs about $188,000 for a year's treatment. We are tapping into all our networks, filling out every drug grant we can find, pushing and tugging with the insurance provider, looking for clinical trials and medical breakthroughs, and asking you, Tanya's friends, family, colleagues, and community for help.

The past year has been a battle and Tanya has quietly waged war not wanting to alarm you, her friends and family. But it's time we rally for Tanya.

As you can imagine, this past year has been financially taxing and the back and forth with insurance coverage has been a burden. And now, we're in the space of only this new therapy treatment option left. We've applied to the drug manufacturers and are believing that some costs are going to be covered that way. But, the family could use some help with insurance-denied medical bills.

We appreciate anything you can give to help Tanya, Matt, and Logan during this time. Please donate to Tanya's GoFundMe and help alleviate the financial stress and strain the Sumners are experiencing so that all of Tanya's energy can go toward beating cancer.