Briana James' fight against breast cancer

Hi, my name is Darren Lackan. I'm raising money to help Briana James and her fight against breast cancer. Those of you who know me, know that I rarely, if ever, ask for help. This is different.

Briana has worked as my medical assistant and scribe for ten years. She works with me very closely in the exam rooms documenting the patient visits. She hears stories ranging from how the patient's family is doing to horrible stories of how the patient is suffering with cancer and dying. She laughs, smiles or cries after leaving the room, sharing in the emotions of me and my patients.

April this year, Briana was diagnosed with breast cancer. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed during the early part of her third trimester of her second pregnancy. She was given multiple options, but the thought of terminating the pregnancy never entered her mind. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy during pregnancy and prematurely delivered a healthy baby girl, Everlee Mae James, who she calls her angel. Since the delivery, she has undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy. Fortunately, her cancer is estrogen receptor positive which makes it easier to treat. Unfortunately, as her cancer was estrogen receptor positive, it grew and spread rapidly during the pregnancy.

A couple of weeks ago, Briana was given the news that her scans showed significant spread of her cancer to her spine and liver. On Tuesday, November 7th, Briana was picking up her "angel" and fractured her spine where the cancer was located. Yesterday, she underwent spinal fusion with screws and rods placed from her lower thoracic spine to her mid lumbar spine and biopsy of her liver masses. She will begin physical therapy, more rounds of chemotherapy and external beam radiation once she recovers from these procedures.

I'm raising this money to help Briana and her family with medical and living expenses. She is unable to work until she heals and her husband has taken a lot of time off to be with her and the children. They are hurting. I realize you do not know Briana personally; but she is a simple, compassionate, faithful and loving woman. She constantly tries to help people, as evidenced by donating her bone marrow ten years ago to save the life of a child she never met. She never speaks badly about others and is one of the kindest people I know.

As we head into the holidays and count our blessings, I ask you to help me help her. I don't know how much money we will raise, but I know anything will help. Please share this with your contacts and on your social media to help this young family.

Thank you,

Darren