Help Lili beat cancer

Hello friends and family.  We have created this GoFundMe for our daughter Lili. Here is her story:

Hi everyone. I started to experience lower abdominal pains in the beginning of the year and dismissed it as nothing more than terrible gas pain. In February, I noticed I had abdominal distention and discomfort. It became uncomfortable for me to complete daily tasks and I figured I was just extremely bloated.  Nobody my age really thinks about illness, let alone serious illness.  Towards the middle of February I became severely constipated with a total loss of appetite and some nausea. 

After a week of trying every laxative in the book and finding no relief, I took myself to the ER on Monday, February 17th. X-Rays confirmed I had a bowel obstruction and later CT Scans and Ultrasounds confirmed I had multiple masses in my pelvic region, the largest one obstructing my bowels. I was admitted into the hospital that night and informed that I needed emergency surgery in order to relieve the obstruction before my bowels perforated. My amazing parents were on the the first planes to Denver from Florida to be by my side.  On Tuesday February 18th, I underwent 8+ hours of open surgery which included a decompression of my bowels, a colostomy, multiple biopsies and partial removal of my left ovary along with parts of the tumor that was attached to it.  I spent 5 nights at the hospital with my parents, friends and boyfriend by my side. On Saturday, February 22nd pathology results came back and I was diagnosed with Low Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer at the age of 28. 

Since then, I have met with my Gynecologic Oncologist and am waiting to find out my plan of action for treatment.  The positive aspect of  low grade ovarian tumors is that they grow slowly, are not rapidly aggressive and tend to be centralized in one area.  The problematic aspect of these tumors is that they are not always as responsive to chemo.  However the normal course of treatment for this disease is that i will still be receiving chemo treatments in hopes that it will shrink my tumors and allow for an easier surgical removal. Other treatments are also available and My family is beginning to educate themselves on all possible treatments. I am currently still healing from my current bowel surgery and getting used to life with an ostomy.  

I am planning on going for second and/or third opinions, as well as visiting a fertility doctor who specializes in oncology patients to see if it will be possible for me to have children of my own in the future. 

Because the current course of action has not been finalized, I do not know how long I will be out of work.  Meanwhile, as we all know, our bills don’t stop. I still have my personal bills and commitments to pay along with all of my new medical bills, ostomy care and equipment costs, and costs in general in order to make sure I am getting the best care for my particular disease. It’s not my in my nature to ask for help but because of my current circumstances I have no choice.  I appreciate anything that any one of you can do, I love you all, and I will be providing you updates of my great progress from time to time.  Thanks again and hugs. Love - Lili, Staci, Carli, Nina and Alan Stander