Help Deb Armstrong Battle Against Cancer... Again

Hi, I'm Becca Thistle. I'm Deb Armstrong's daughter. I'm creating this as a place for anyone who wants to donate or share encouragement with our family during this difficult battle against an ugly disease.

For anyone who knows my mom or my family knows we're proud and we're fighters. If you also know us you know this isn't my mom's first battle against cancer, but this is our first time reaching out for help financially.

In 2010, my mom was living life to the fullest with lots to celebrate as my brother Anthony was getting ready to graduate college, I was just starting college, she had a new job, and a lot to be thankful for. It was a month before Anthony was to graduate college she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer. She had gone through surgery and chemotherapy treatment experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly of it all. Through her faith and her strong support of family and friends, she was able to say she did it... she fought cancer and won going into remission!

Fast forward 12 years - It's February 2022, life is still good and her family has grown. Dad has retired and Mom looked forward to eventually retiring herself. Mom and Dad celebrated 36 years of wedded bliss, Anthony’s been married to his wife, Stefanie, for 8 years and has 2 beautiful kids to keep Grandma & Grandpa on their toes, and I had just gotten married to my wonderful husband, Matt. 2 weeks after Matt and I said our "I dos" our family received the gut-wrenching news "Mom has cancer, again".

Mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 Uterine Cancer. She underwent a total hysterectomy and 6 rounds of chemotherapy and this time radiation too. During this Mom had the same strong faith and support from her family and friends.

I think when people say "cancer sucks" it is an understatement. What our family wasn't expecting was for this battle against cancer to have such vengeance. We found out in September 2022 that her uterine cancer metastasized to her adrenal gland and later to her brain.

I'll say for those of you who know my mom knows her stubborn determination. She won't just sit back without a fight. It was a week after finding out the cancer had spread that Matt and I shared our news of expecting our first baby. What a joy for Mom to have 2 amazing grandchildren already and to be blessed with another on the way. That created a whole new spark for Mom to fight. Where one doctor said there is nothing more we can do, another said let's take a look and see if we can help, so we loaded up in the car to head to Zion IL where we would find the Cancer Treatment Center of America (now City of Hope). It was here we got the 2nd opinion which unfortunately did confirm cancer had spread, but we also got reassurance these doctors would continue to fight until either Mom was done fighting or the cancer was beat!

In the last 6 months, Mom has gone through radiation this time for the 9 tumors found on her brain as well as immunotherapy to fight against the mass on her adrenal gland. The radiation has proven to reduce those tumors but has caused some residual side effects on Mom's mobility on her left side and her speech causing a need for OT & PT. The immunotherapy had done nothing to shrink or kill the other tumors in her body, so she stopped and is back to trying chemotherapy. We won't know if this is effective until May, but we know Mom is continuing to want to fight.

If you've made it reading this far I promise I won't take up too much more time. This has been a roller coaster of a year for our entire family, but one thing has stayed constant and that is my Mom is the epitome of strength and a fighter. Each one of us has played a part in being a caregiver for Mom, and she has tried to work as much as possible to help make ends meet, but when you are fighting for your life sometimes it’s more important to ask for help than to try to trudge through on your own.

My family doesn't know how long this fight will go on and we don't know how it will end, but we can only hope for the best. We ask for your prayers and if you find it in your heart to donate toward my parents' financial burden of medical bills know we are forever grateful.

Thank you,

Deb & Dave Armstrong

Anthony & Stef Armstrong

Becca & Matt Thistle