Help Nicole-Knotandsplice Overcome Aggressive Breast Cancer

Hi everyone, Eric here. My partner Nicole has been diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer in her left breast and axillary lymph nodes in early March. It is grade 3 (the most aggressive type) and at stage 3 due to the size of the mass being over 5cm and 3 or more affected lymph nodes.

You may know Nicole because she is a self-employed artist of her business, Knot & Splice Jewelry. She crafts one of a kind engagement rings and fine jewelry for lovely folks all over the world.

Although she treasures her creative time and is hopeful to be able to keep working the rest of the year, cancer treatments are taxing on the mind, body and spirit. This is why we are humbly asking our community for full support and help with her healing as she embarks on this battle to fight for her life against an aggressive cancer. This is a marathon and not a sprint and Nicole is determined to fight hard.

Her first surgical oncology appointment was on March 13, which she had had to wait almost a month for. Her first medical oncology appointment is closer to the end of the month (at this appointment she will have a CT and PET scan, labs, and help with her chemo treatment plan). The timing for surgery (mastectomy) and subsequent radiation will be based on the response from chemo. The treatments could continue over a full year.

Nicole has insurance, however, her deductible and max out of pocket costs will be around $10k per year.

She knows she has a long journey is ahead of her. She’s spent a lot of time contemplating what will help support her in her fight. Your support will help her to be able to do complimentary holistic therapies like acupuncture and IV therapy (insurance does not cover these) which are shown to help ease side effects and support recovery while undergoing chemo.

Other costs that are not covered by insurance include chemo care items (special ice packs to help prevent neuropathy), cold capping (which can help some women save some of their hair; there are only manual cold capping in our area that can cost upwards of $5,000), and the cost of wigs.

Nicole was a candidate for genetic testing because of her age of diagnosis (we will get those results within a couple weeks).

Additionally, I (Eric) may need to take an extensive amount of time off work to go with Nicole to appointments and help her at home after her surgery. I do not have much paid leave, so this will help me be able to be with Nicole for treatments as needed.

A mastectomy surgery can take over 2 months to recover from with very limited use of arms during that time (because of Nicole’s work, she will need to outsource a lot of the work she does herself and have help with shipping, etc.). Because Nicole is self-employed, this cancer diagnosis has brought on a lot of anxiety about all of the unknowns and the costs associated with having help with completing tasks she can usually do by herself.

If you are unable to give financially at this time, we welcome your prayers, positivity, speaking life and healing over her name, and sharing her story with your friends and loved ones as well.

We plan to keep everyone updated here as we go through the healing journey. Thank you so much.

With love,

Eric