Shelby Family

This family of six is in desperate need of financial assistance after a devastating pancreatic cancer diagnosis made only one day after the birth of their child. 
 
Tammy is a mother of four beautiful children (ages 17, 5, 2, and 10 months) and a was a full-time student in the Surgical Tech program,  During the pregnancy with her fourth child, Tammy developed pancreatitis-like symptoms and a mass on her pancreas was noted. As her health rapidly deteriorated, physicians made the decision to induce labor at 36 weeks. On February 5, 2020, Baby Mae-Lee was born and promptly spent 11 days in NICU because of under-developed lungs. The day after Mae-Lee’s birth, Tammy underwent a small surgical procedure to remove a biliary stent at which time a biopsy was also performed. On February 9th, while Mae-Lee was still in the NICU, Tammy turned 38. On February 10th, the family received crushing news that the biopsy showed pancreatic cancer.

 Tammy was taken to Baylor University in Dallas, TX, via ambulance on February 11th. At the time, Tammy’s tumor markers were way too high to safely perform the surgery she needed. The decision was made to do chemotherapy and get the tumor levels down, then perform whipple surgery.

 Almost immediately after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy were started. Since July, Tammy has been on almost constant rounds of chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the family received bad news  the week before Christmas. Tammy has two masses and rapidly increasing tumor markers indicating that the cancer is still present and aggressive. In even more distressing news, the current chemotherapy cocktail appears to be causing decreased white blood cells which can become extremely critical. Currently, the chemotherapy has been ceased and plans are being developed as to the next steps.
 
Tammy’s husband, David, is the sole financial provider for the family working in the Security sector, currently and because of the needed help with childcare and taking care of Tammy and getting her to appointments, plus the COVID-19 outbreak, he has been unable to work enough to fully support the family. David is a United States Army combat veteran, who proudly served his country from 1996-2005, deploying to Kosovo, and Iraq twice.

David is a hard worker and has spent much of the past year avoiding asking anyone for financial help and selling many of his possessions to help support the family. Times have just gotten too rough and the family could use any and all help now.  We are asking for donations to help this family to concentrate on the health of Tammy and the time with the family instead of worrying about keeping a roof over their heads.  Thank you for taking the time to read about our dear friends’ story as well as helping us get the word out by sharing this.