Donate to help Kristen and her growing family

We are Nicole, Kristen’s sister, and Shelby, Kristen’s sister-in-law. We have created this page in hopes of helping Kristen and Johnny through tough times ahead. An exciting time of their life turned scary pretty quickly.

On October 18th, after a few months of trying, Kristen and her husband Johnny discovered that they were pregnant with their first baby. Soon after, Kristen developed a persistent cough. She discounted it as a pregnancy cough until the night of November 28th when it was met with severe chest pain and shortness of breath. That night in the emergency room she was treated for pneumonia and told to follow up with her doctors to ensure that the mass in her chest was shrinking. Two weeks later they met their new OBGYN doctor to discuss results of an NIPT blood test which tests for genetic deficiencies for their growing baby. The results came back inconclusive as there was abnormal genetic material present in her blood.

Fast forward to January 2023, following further scans and a biopsy, Kristen learned she has B-Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This cancer is treatable through 4-6 cycles of chemotherapy. Given that Kristen is now in her second trimester, the doctors believe that the treatment will be safe for the baby. This means that through her pregnancy, Kristen will be receiving chemotherapy. We expect Kristen to be admitted to a hospital in Tampa this Sunday, January 8th, 2023, to begin her first round of treatment.

We’re asking that you consider donating to this fundraiser for Kristen and Johnny to help provide some financial relief through this journey ahead. If you are unable to donate, please share this page. We will try to provide updates on this page going forward as to how Kristen and baby are doing through treatment. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Below is a prayer that Johnny wrote for Kristen and read to our family at dinner after her diagnosis:

Dear God or being of a higher power, I’ve never done this before so please bear with me. With that said I plan on checking in with you more going forward. Tonight, we come to you with some prayers and in return we have some offerings for you.

First, we pray that you watch over our family in the coming days, weeks, and months as they will surely not be easy. We ask that you offer us some guidance through this time of uncertainty and fear. We ask not for the best outcome, as that has already passed us, but at least an outcome that we can endure and overcome. We ask for some strength when we feel the weakest and some comfort when we get angry. And most importantly we ask that you care for our beloved Kristen and keep her safe and protect her through this process.

In return, we promise to never take a moment of life for granted. We promise to love each other harder. We promise to check in with our loved ones more often. And we vow to begin practicing our faith, not just in times of need, but in the pursuit of a greater purpose in life. So many people have helped us during these times and when the time is right, we want to give back in any way that we can. We pray that you give us the opportunity to do so. Amen.