IVF & Treatment for Mom with Brain Cancer

[Updates Below] Hi, my name is Kelsey. I am 30 years old and a Mom to a 1-year-old baby girl, Raeya. I am a wife, a sister, and a daughter. And I have brain cancer. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor on August 16th, 2023, and underwent neurosurgery the following day to remove the tumor, which was shown to be a Stage 3 Astrocytoma with an IDH-1 mutation. Many people with astrocytoma with the IDH-1 mutation do very well, with the average prognosis being 12-15 years. I am hopeful with a very successful surgery behind me (no residual tumor seen), and drugs that target the IDH-1 mutation already being researched, my disease will someday be curable.

My reason for starting this GoFundMe is to help raise funds to pay for fertility treatments before and after my cancer treatment. The chemotherapy I will be using is called Temozolomide and is known to cause birth defects. My doctors recommend harvesting my eggs, storing fertilized embryos, and then receiving IVF after I am done receiving chemotherapy to give any future children the best chance of avoiding the harmful effects of the chemotherapy. This process is normally $12,000 for the harvesting process alone, but with some grants from the Livestrong Foundation, our costs are reduced, but not fully covered. We would use any money from GoFundMe to fund the $5,500 procedure for egg harvesting and embryo fertilization. There is also a $600 annual fee for storing the embryo, and another $3,000-$5,000 for embryo transfer. Any additional money raised would go towards cancer treatment costs.

I have always wanted to be a mom, and am so lucky to have my baby girl, Raeya. Right before my diagnosis, my husband Sean and I were hoping to start trying for another child. It would mean the world to have your help in continuing to grow our family despite my circumstances. Thank you so much for reading this far!

Update 2/28/24: I completed 33 rounds of radiation treatment back in the fall of 2023 (YAY!) and am in the middle of undergoing chemotherapy to prevent the cancer cells left after my surgery from growing. I will have a total of 12 rounds of the chemotherapy drug, Temezolomide, that I take at home. The co-pay for each chemotherapy round is around $1,500 so a total of $18,000 for the 12 rounds of treatment.

The treatments have been difficult effecting my overall concentration, memory, energy, and other physical side effects. Due to my treatments, I am currently taking pause on working to focus on healing and spending time with Raeya. My chemotherapy treatments will be complete by *hopefully* Spring 2025.

We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support from family, friends, and strangers. Thank you thank you thank you! We couldn't do it without you.