Help Lauren Olesh Beat Breast Cancer

Dear Friends, Family, and Kindhearted people,

It is with a heavy heart that we reach out to our community to ask for support for our beloved Lauren. If you know Lauren, she is the life of the party, she's always smiling, gives the best hugs a person could ask for, and shows her family and friends unconditional love. And now we hope we can show her the same in return.

A few years ago Lauren learned that she has the BRCA1 gene and since then she has been disciplined about doing at home breast exams. A couple weeks ago, while celebrating a friends wedding with her newly engaged fiancé, Rachel, she felt a lump. They quickly got her an appointment with the High Risk Breast Cancer Center at Summa Health where we learned that she has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer.

The cancer is currently in stage 2b and has spread to the breast ducts; however, we are hopeful that it has been caught before it spread outside of the breast. Still the treatment will be aggressive. Lauren is preparing to have a double mastectomy, followed by chemo treatments, and we are hopeful for reconstructive surgery. This news has been devastating to Lauren and Rachel, and they are gearing up for a fight no 31 year old should have to go through.

Currently Lauren has limited PTO and is not provided short term disability from her employer. They have been extremely supportive through this difficult time and have created a PTO donation pool but we are unsure of how lucrative that will be. We are anticipating she will have to take a significant amount of unpaid time off to undergo treatment. In addition Lauren is covered by a high deductible health plan, but we do not yet know the extent to which her health insurance will cover the varying levels of treatment she will need to receive.

It is vitally important to us that Lauren is able to focus on her health, well-being, and treatment without fear of financial constraint. This is why we are reaching out to our loved ones, acquaintances, and strangers to ask for support for Lauren while she goes through this unthinkable journey.

Please join us in showing her the unconditional love and support that she so freely shares with other.

With Gratitude and Love,

Rachel, Amy, Courtney, and Kelly