Christina Sherrill treatment/recovery fund
As some of our friends and family may have heard, and for those that haven't, my best friend, partner-in-crime, and girlfriend for going on 6 years was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) in late May.
Christina was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia-like symptoms following a week long coughing fit. Her primary care physician suggested she get a chest X-ray after prescribing her cough syrup and an inhaler, just to make sure her condition wasn't symptomatic of something worse. She got the X-ray, walked to her car, and realized she felt too short of breath and weak to drive back home. She called her mom, filled her in, and waited to be picked up. As her mom arrived, her primary doctor called and told her she needed to get to the Simi Valley Emergency Room as soon as possible after seeing her X-ray. Her mom gave me a call and I was off to the ER.
Once we were eased through check-in, Christina was given a preliminary diagnosis of pneumonia, potentially even an infection. The X-ray revealed a complete and total "white out" of her right lung - meaning that it was completely covered in fluid. The doctors seemed very confident that an infection was to blame, so she was started on antibiotics.
Fast forward a couple days - she had the fluid drained from her lung via two separate thorocentesis procedures (incredibly painful for her), received a bronchoscopy, was implanted with a chest tube, and, lastly, had a biopsy of a "mass" that was revealed to the doctors via CT scan.
Following the biopsy, her thoracic surgeon revealed to us that the mass was "hard" and clearly malignant. It was cancerous, and likely lung cancer. She also told us that the fluid surrounding her lung contained cancerous cells, meaning stage IV cancer. Christina was still recovering from general anesthesia while we were being informed.
Christina is only 26 (27 in August), healthy, doesn't smoke, and is the last person in the world I'd ever expect to get news like this.
Obviously, the news hit us all hard. I volunteered to be the one that filled her in on her diagnosis. It was hands down the hardest moment I've ever experienced. I don't wish that sort of pain on anybody. Words just aren't enough. She broke down, but, honestly, handled it better than I could have ever imagined .
We're early into her diagnosis and early into her treatments. She's currently a patient under Dr. Salgia at City of Hope in Duarte. Her doctors are encouraged by her age and expect to be able to get her started on immunotherapy in the near future. She's had her first chemo treatment and is currently undergoing radiation therapy at City of Hope.
The last thing she wanted was to have to start a page like this. She doesn't want the world to know her condition or have people feel sorry for her. But she's ready to fight and she's ready to take this all one day at a time.
All this being said, her treatments/medical equipment/prescriptions/etc all carry a steep price tag. Her mom has been shouldering the financial burden for most of it and any and all help is so greatly appreciated by all of us. We waited to start a GoFundMe until it seemed absolutely necessary. Anything we raise will go directly toward Christina's medical bills, home care, medical equipment, and potential treatments. As of now, we have no idea what the total/foreseeable costs look like. She has insurance and her current deductible stands at $10,000. That's the big cost we're looking at right now. It's growing increasingly clear that we're going to accrue a higher amount of costs, but we don't think it's fair to mislead our out-of-pocket expenses so far. Future therapies could and probably will carry a heftier price tag.
She is the strongest person I know and I'm confident that she'll come out of this on top. And, for those of you that know Christina, I'm sure you know that her energetic spirit and peppy personality leave her well-equipped for what comes ahead.
She's got this and I'll be there every step of the way to shoulder the load.
