Help Hannah Beat Cancer!

Many of our friends and family know that in February 2023, Hannah was diagnosed with an aggressive form of stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at 21. We wanted to share her story in hopes of some financial help for her medical bills if it’s something you are able to.

A little bit about Hannah is that she is an undergraduate student at St. Lawrence University (SLU) located in upstate NY with a full-ride as a Monumentum Scholar. She loves to learn and is on track to graduate Magna Cum Laude (majoring in philosophy and double minoring in education and gender/sexuality studies). Despite challenges, Hannah has thrived at SLU, and during her time there, she’s served as an Education Office Aide, Community Mentor, 3-year Orientation Leader, Newspaper Staff Writer, Class 2023 President, and, recently, as the University’s Student Body President. To our surprise, Hannah was doing this all while having stage 4 cancer. Unfortunately, she had to take the past spring semester off to do 6 rounds (12 treatments) of chemotherapy.

In the years leading up to her diagnosis, Hannah had a very poor immune system and regularly complained of stomach aches, fatigue, and body pain. In the past couple of years, she’s gotten COVID-19 three times, had a seizure and acquired a significant concussion, and even suffered from appendicitis for a year before getting an appendectomy. Despite her mental and physical decline, doctors failed to identify a root cause due to the wide-ranging symptoms. By December 2022, she started to face issues with her liver and spleen and developed a chronic cough, incessant body itching, drenching night sweats, shortness of breath, unexplained weight loss, and more. Believe it or not, some doctors still belittled her symptoms. Until one night at the ER, she got a CT scan that revealed enlarged lymph nodes throughout her neck and chest. She began various tests to narrow down the cause. After two months of undergoing various Pet Scans, EKGs, EEGs, MRIs, Echocardiograms, Biopsies, Surgeries, and more, she finally got diagnosed on February 14th, 2023, with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As quickly as she got diagnosed, she was undergoing surgery for her port, planning the next 6 months of chemo, and discussing fertility options. Once chemo started, she quickly began to lose her hair. She also developed a severe allergic reaction to one of her nausea medications and, unfortunately, had to go without it for the entirety of treatment.

As of August 8th, Hannah has officially finished all 12 chemotherapy treatments and is 100% cancer free! She is still recovering from the side effects of chemo, but through it all, she has remained positive and focused on better days to come. She has fought so hard for her life for the past 6 months, and we couldn’t be more proud of her.

However, now we are dealing with the aftermath of it all and all her medical expenses. Before insurance, her PET Scans are $20,000 each, and her chemo regimen is around $30,000 each time (she got 12 treatments). Additionally, her biopsies, surgeries, and other scans are costly. We are blessed to have insurance but high deductibles and copays leave us struggling to pay for the rest out of pocket. If one thing could make Hannah’s journey and our family’s life easier, it would be not having to worry about medical bills. Hannah’s mom Barbara is the sole provider of a household of five. Alyssa, our youngest, faces Cerebral Palsy, and our Father struggles with MS. Between the three, medical expenses are immense and our family cannot pay for it all.

After insurance and what our family can contribute, Hannah still owes over $25,000. Please do not feel obligated to contribute, as we know it is a hard time for everyone financially, but if you can, your donation would be greatly appreciated.