Support Chelsea's Cancer Battle #TeamCDubs

Howaya (informal 'hi' in Irish speak) -- We are #TeamCDubs and we are raising money for our sister/daughter Chelsea because we love her dearly. She needs support after everything she has been through and will be facing over the coming 15+ months.

On January 25th 2023, Chelsea Weaver (34 years old, West Seattleite) was diagnosed with stage 2B triple-positive breast cancer (invasive ductal carcinoma, HER2+, ER+, PR+) that has metastasized to axillary lymph nodes after finding a lump a few months earlier (and was initially diagnosed with Stage 0 - DCIS in early December). Details of her diagnosis can be found below.

This fundraiser will directly support:

*For those of you wish to help by purchasing a specific item Chelsea needs, she has an Amazon wish list of items she needs for her upcoming bilateral mastectomy surgery. She will need each of these to function and/or be comfortable after surgery on August 2nd.

*For those of you who would prefer to contribute directly towards a meal(s) for Chelsea, her Meal Train can be found here. You can choose to purchase a specific meal(s) to be delivered to her, or a gift card for food delivery service (e.g., UberEats, DoorDash), or a gift card to one of her local grocery stores.

Chelsea has a very aggressive form of cancer, but there are two major positives to focus on: First, she caught this early and sought medical care quickly. Second, though these cancers tend to grow and spread rapidly, they are very responsive to medical treatment. Her treatment starts with fertility preservation (as she is 34 and has not yet had children, and chemo is known to cause infertility), followed by targeted chemotherapy. Chelsea will be getting six rounds of chemo—one round every 3 weeks for 16 weeks/5 months. The chemo is administered along with a combination of medications designed to treat the cancer, called TCHP. Her first round of chemo is set to be on March 10th. She’ll need one year of Herceptin administered intravenously (to target the HER2 protein), along with 10 years of oral anti-hormone treatment.

2-4 weeks after completing her last round of chemo, Chelsea will almost certainly have a bilateral (double) mastectomy. The cancer has spread throughout too much of her left breast to save any of it and she is fearful of the cancer eventually returning to her right breast, so she will have both removed. She will then undergo 6 weeks of daily radiation therapy, followed by a 6 month break before she has her first (of likely multiple) reconstructive surgeries. To make matters more confusing, Chelsea was tested for 57 cancer genes (including BRCA) and does not carry a single cancer gene, meaning she is not genetically predisposed to cancer. If she hadn't found the lump, she wouldn't have been screened for breast cancer for another six years and probably would not be here to tell her story. Chelsea wants to raise awareness to please conduct regular self-exams!!!

Chelsea has strong communities around the world and now she desperately needs our help. Our goal with this fundraiser is to alleviate the burden of hefty medical bills, living expenses, and mental health expenses, so she can focus on what really matters—getting healthy and kicking cancer’s ass.

She cannot win this battle without the support of loved ones, due to the impending financial strain this will have on her life. Chelsea is blessed to have health insurance, but not all of her necessary medical care will be covered by insurance. She does not have family within driving distance and will need financial support for many aspects of this battle.

This is all extra impactful on Chelsea financially and emotionally because she recently completed another large health battle: in July 2021, she had a hepatic adenoma (a dangerous tumor caused by birth control) removed, and therefore had liver resection surgery. The recovery for this was 8 months and she is still receiving medical bills from this surgery and associated medical care.

We don't yet know how much financial strain this will put on Chelsea and her caregivers, as this will be a 15+ month journey. Please show Chelsea your support in this time of need: give what you can and share with your network!

With love,

Kendra, Pat & Michael (Chelsea's sister and parents)

#TeamCDubs

*CDubs is an affectionate nickname for Chelsea and has a triple meaning: 'Dubs' for W (the first letter of her last name and the state of Washington, her current home) and Dublin, her forever 'heart home')

** Note from Chelsea on her custom wig: My favorite thing about myself is my hair. In addition to the impending financial stress of this medical journey, losing my hair is my greatest distress right now, regardless of how vain it is. It has taken me a lifetime to develop a positive, loving relationship with my hair and now, I feel that my hair is 95% of my identity. My hair routine is a huge part of my self-care routine and is meditative to me. I take pride in maintaining my hair and when I do, it determines how confident I feel on a day-to-day basis. The thought of losing my hair is the most devastating thing in the world to me. Chemo drugs tend to change the texture and qualities of hair and I may never have "my" hair again. To ease the heartbreak of this, I am happy to say that I found the only wig maker in the Seattle area who specializes in custom wigs made out of the person's own hair. I am proceeding with this and as soon as I decided that this is something I am going to do, it has been the biggest relief (and comfort) to me. It's very expensive; however, the way I see it is this is a way for me to (semi) retain my favorite thing about myself and continue to feel somewhat like myself during treatment and recovery.