Help Heather Defeat Stage 3 Breast Cancer

2024 has been a tough year for my family to say the least... It only got worst when my sister was diagnosed with BREAST CANCER! Now you can only imagine the sickening anxiety, not only my sister had, but the family had. How many sleepless nights we've stayed up researching different types of breast cancers; sleepless nights praying that maybe the doctors were wrong or praying it wasn't a serious stage of cancer.

In December of 2023, Heather went to a yearly gynecologist appointment to have a pap and have her IUD removed. She had a full exam done; there were no lumps or anything out of the ordinary. The following month in January 2024, Heather got her menstrual cycle and with that a lump was found!! If you know my sister, she is a carbon copy of our mother; with that being said, mom had a benign mass removed from her breast at age 38... Well guess what? Heather is 39! She allowed another month to pass by thinking, "it's probably just like mom."

In March our lives changed. Heather was diagnosed with stage 3 Invasive Ductile Carcinoma. Her tumor is HER2+ (estrogen driven) with a very aggressive growth rate.

Days felt like months while we waited for answers for a plan!

On March 27th, Heather met with her breast surgeon (before meeting with her oncologist, which was scheduled 2 weeks later). She was so concerned about Heather's numbers sher called in a favor to an AMAZING oncologist, Dr. Li, at Florida Cancer Specialists. Dr. Li put Heather on a fast track "stat" for treatment and in one week she had her port placed and began chemotherapy.

Her treatment regimen consists of both Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy:

In 6 rounds, 1 every 3rd week. (We've got ONE MORE ROUND)!

The side effects have been pretty brutal for my sister, especially since she's still trying to work full time.

If you know Heather, you know that she can't sit still and loves to help others. Her doctors have allowed her to work since it benefits her mental health and her bloodwork has been great (thank God). After Chemo sadly our fight is not over...

Heather is scheduled to have a double mastectomy (1/8 women get breast cancer now, but 1/3 have REOCCURANCE); so Heather chose to remove it all. She refuses to fight breast cancer twice!! After the surgery, we will know if all the cancer is gone or if she will need more chemotherapy...

Following surgery will be radiation therapy and 12 months of immunotherapy and she's ending ther year with a complete hysterectomy (because of the estrogen driven type of cancer).

Heather is NOT giving that cancer the opportunity to grow/spread and we totally SUPPORT that choice!!

It has been such an emotional and trying time for our family, but we are counting our blessings. So many people have been asking how they can help or if there's anything they can do for Heather, and I may have the perfect opportunity for that support. Because of all the time off work, she will be needing for all the surgeries and treatments. We are asking for support through this go fund me platform.

It is true what they say, when someone you love is diagnosed with cancer, they will NEVER fight alone! And this is your chance to join Heather's fight in defeating this awful disease.

Thank you for your love and support and continued prayers.

"Be strong, be brave, be fearless, you've never alone" Joshua 1:9