Donate to help Cheryl, Ariana, Danny and Isabella

Cheryl Marie Santee is a daughter, a mother, a sister, an Aunt, a cousin, a niece and a friend.

The C words. Cheryl has always been compassionate, comedic, crabby, charming, and capable. All of those c’s are the qualities that are going to get her through the worst C of all. Fucking cancer.

Cheryl was diagnosed with stage 2 grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma on May 17. As of now the treatment plan is 12 weeks of chemo and immunotherapy and then immunotherapy once every 3 weeks for 4 doses. After that, she will have surgery. Depending on how the tumor responds to the chemo will determine if she will have a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. She’s 2/3 or the way through her first round of chemo and so far, things are going as well as can be expected. She’ll be starting radiation soon and that’s when the physical fight with this disease gets more complicated.

In the meantime, despite the weekly chemo, Cheryl continues to work full time as a respiratory therapist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago. She’s also a single mom raising 2 small kids- Danny 8, and Isabella 6. Her oldest daughter Ariana is 23 and does everything she can to help out with the 2 little ones.

Cheryl plans to continue working as long as she physically can to provide a safe and happy life for her 3 kids. The reality that the cancer may temporarily leave her unable to work is a big hurdle for this woman who always takes care of the ones she loves. Asking for help is not Cheryl’s strong suit, but everyone needs a hand from time to time and whether she likes it or not, this is her time.

Stage 2 triple negative breast cancer. They didn’t give me a prognosis. Just that it’s “treatable”. I have 16 chemotherapy infusions, then surgery, and then 9 cycles of immunotherapy and possibly radiation and more chemo. Depends what the biopsy of the lymph nodes shows when I have the surgery.

“Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive, fast-growing form of breast cancer that is more likely than other forms of breast cancer to recur. About 40% of people with stage 1 to 3 TNBC will experience a recurrence after treatment.”

Cheryl has always had a big personality. She's the type of person people are just drawn to and once you become her friend, it's friends for life!!