Custom wig for Jeana
Donation protected
Facebook friends and family, it is that time again time for my next hair donation and relentlessly begging people for money. However, this time is super special and extremely personal to both Alec and me. We have the privilege of being able to donate our hair to a person we know who very much deserves it. Our friend and fellow rabbit shelter volunteer Jeana has been strong enough to ask people for help as she is in the process of losing her hair to chemotherapy.
A little about Jeana: she has been volunteering at House Rabbit Resource Network since 2009 and is the Volunteer Coordinator responsible for scheduling and covering all of the volunteer jobs at the shelter. This is an all day, every day “job” between finding new volunteers and coordinating absences within the 100% volunteer workforce.
Her Cancer Story:
On May 31, 2021 Jeana lost mobility. This happened during the clean out of her recently deceased fathers’ home, which exacerbated a worsening mobility situation and possibly saved her life. “Everything happens for a reason,” Jeana says. Doctors discovered she had a malignant tumor in her hip and she had to have surgery on July 27, 2021 to remove part of her femur and replace her hip; but she is a strong, resilient woman and she made it through.
However, she wasn’t healing properly from the original procedure and demanded her oncology team go against sarcoma protocol as well as appeal insurance decisions and have a PET/CT scan done. Despite other scans not showing anything and doctors saying they were certain there wasn’t any more cancer, the PET/CT located another large tumor with the same pathology just below the previous surgical site, between the thigh muscle and the remaining portion of the femur. Surgery was planned and after more scans to map the surgical site, the doctors found yet another marble sized tumor growing in the knee in February 2022.
To add to the situation, Jeana had a large gluteal mass removed 5 years ago and it was treated as nothing. Despite the size and complications, the physician at the time didn’t do an MRI prior to surgery and removed it with positive margins. Fortunately, pathology was done on the mass, so her current Ortho Oncologist went back and discovered that mass did have the same pathology as the new tumors. Because it was removed with positive margins instead of being carefully removed, it was released into the blood system, making it metastatic. As Jeana always says... “This is typical Jeana fashion!”
Current pathology reflects an aggressive, extremely rare (Less than 1% of the already rare sarcoma population) Stage 4 metastatic Soft Tissue Sarcoma with the rarity of a subtype metastatic Solitary Fibrous Tumor. Because there isn't much data on this type of cancer, Jeana did her research on regular sarcomas and requested her oncology team try experimental targeted therapy to avoid the most brutal standard chemo. She started this targeted chemotherapy on April 1st. Along with all the other side effects, she is losing her hair. Though there are dangerous liver and heart complications, she is staying the course, keeping up a great sense of humor and positive outlook. She is determined to win this fight.
This is where we all come in, Alec and I have collected our hair to donate to Jeana who recently cut off over 12 inches of her own hair and now we would like to help offset the cost of her custom wig that will be made from her hair and supplemented with donation hair to make up the rest. The cost of the cranial prosthesis is $1600 and we are asking for donations to help her offset that since the medical bills have been significant. Also, for the first time we are asking other people who can consider donating their hair to Jeana , as it takes many donations to make a full wig. I am so excited and pleased to be able to do such a personal and meaningful thing for such a wonderful person, so please donate what you can if you can and let’s show Jeana that her fight is not alone.
A little about Jeana: she has been volunteering at House Rabbit Resource Network since 2009 and is the Volunteer Coordinator responsible for scheduling and covering all of the volunteer jobs at the shelter. This is an all day, every day “job” between finding new volunteers and coordinating absences within the 100% volunteer workforce.
Her Cancer Story:
On May 31, 2021 Jeana lost mobility. This happened during the clean out of her recently deceased fathers’ home, which exacerbated a worsening mobility situation and possibly saved her life. “Everything happens for a reason,” Jeana says. Doctors discovered she had a malignant tumor in her hip and she had to have surgery on July 27, 2021 to remove part of her femur and replace her hip; but she is a strong, resilient woman and she made it through.
However, she wasn’t healing properly from the original procedure and demanded her oncology team go against sarcoma protocol as well as appeal insurance decisions and have a PET/CT scan done. Despite other scans not showing anything and doctors saying they were certain there wasn’t any more cancer, the PET/CT located another large tumor with the same pathology just below the previous surgical site, between the thigh muscle and the remaining portion of the femur. Surgery was planned and after more scans to map the surgical site, the doctors found yet another marble sized tumor growing in the knee in February 2022.
To add to the situation, Jeana had a large gluteal mass removed 5 years ago and it was treated as nothing. Despite the size and complications, the physician at the time didn’t do an MRI prior to surgery and removed it with positive margins. Fortunately, pathology was done on the mass, so her current Ortho Oncologist went back and discovered that mass did have the same pathology as the new tumors. Because it was removed with positive margins instead of being carefully removed, it was released into the blood system, making it metastatic. As Jeana always says... “This is typical Jeana fashion!”
Current pathology reflects an aggressive, extremely rare (Less than 1% of the already rare sarcoma population) Stage 4 metastatic Soft Tissue Sarcoma with the rarity of a subtype metastatic Solitary Fibrous Tumor. Because there isn't much data on this type of cancer, Jeana did her research on regular sarcomas and requested her oncology team try experimental targeted therapy to avoid the most brutal standard chemo. She started this targeted chemotherapy on April 1st. Along with all the other side effects, she is losing her hair. Though there are dangerous liver and heart complications, she is staying the course, keeping up a great sense of humor and positive outlook. She is determined to win this fight.
This is where we all come in, Alec and I have collected our hair to donate to Jeana who recently cut off over 12 inches of her own hair and now we would like to help offset the cost of her custom wig that will be made from her hair and supplemented with donation hair to make up the rest. The cost of the cranial prosthesis is $1600 and we are asking for donations to help her offset that since the medical bills have been significant. Also, for the first time we are asking other people who can consider donating their hair to Jeana , as it takes many donations to make a full wig. I am so excited and pleased to be able to do such a personal and meaningful thing for such a wonderful person, so please donate what you can if you can and let’s show Jeana that her fight is not alone.
graphic images of tumor here .
Organizer and beneficiary
Robyn Guerrera
Organizer
Austin, TX
Jeana Green
Beneficiary