Jenny Appleford's Cancer Journey

If you want to know more about Jenny Appleford, here's a link to Jennys Youtube Profile and Jennys Facebook Group.

After two and a half years of the most courageous and inspiring journey, Jenny has left this earth and become an angel. She passed away with beauty and dignity on November 5th, 2023 in her home. Jenny was peaceful, pain free, and surrounded by the things and people she loved the most. She leaves behind not only her loving husband and two perfect children, but her family, friends, and thousands of supporters who have come to know and love her. Though the last years of her life were filled with pain, fear, and sadness, they were more so filled with an outpouring of support, love, kindness and generosity.

Without the incredible generosity the Applefords have received, these years would have been extremely challenging. Those who have donated have not only eased the extreme financial burden that cancer brings, but put a constant light of hope into their everyday lives. Messages, gifts, handmade treasures, stickers, prayers, and more have flooded in every single day. There is no way to measure the impact you all have had on this family. We are so deeply grateful to you.

We ask those who are drawn to continue their generosity, to donate to the Appleford family. The donations here will be used towards a beautiful celebration of life service, residual medical costs, and for the family to use as they begin their journey towards healing.

We pray that each of us that have been touched by Jenny find peace, healing, and hope each time we come across a lucky penny.

beginning information:

Hello Everyone. My name is Ashley Horton, and I am starting this fundraiser to help support my sister Jenny Appleford in her journey with Stage 4 Non-smoking Lung cancer. My beautiful sister was diagnosed with cancer on March 19th, 2021, after she developed rib pain that would not get better and progressed to shortness of breath. Jenny had to advocate for diagnostic scans as the doctors at her previous Hospital did not believe that a 33-year-old healthy young woman could have a serious illness.

The initial diagnosis was inoperable Stage 3 adenocarcinoma lung cancer. Jenny had to switch insurance providers to receive treatment at City of Hope Cancer Hospital. The insurance switch was stressful and cost them $870 dollars a month, and that does not include any costs associated with treatment, scans, hospitalizations, etc. Jenny completed her first round of treatment, including 8 rounds of chemo and 30 chest/lung radiation sessions in June 2021. By the end of her first treatment, Jenny was unable to eat and was on a liquid diet due to the burning of her esophagus from the radiation treatment. Jenny's second treatment was to start immunotherapy (Imfinzi) infusion for the next year. Unfortunately, after her first immunotherapy in August 2021, she developed a rare and severe reaction to the medication that forced her to be hospitalized for 15 days at City of Hope. Jenny is still taking steroids and prophylactic antibiotics to manage the reaction, but the reaction put a delay in additional treatment.

Jenny had numerous small spots show up on her CT scan in December 2021, which led to an evaluation with the pulmologist and a lung liquid biopsy/lung wash. The Lung liquid biopsy/lung wash revealed new cancer cells on February 25th, 2022. Jenny then underwent new diagnostic CT, Brain MRI, and PET scans to determine the extent of the new cancer occurrence. That's when we received the devastating news that the cancer had spread to her brain, the lining of her lung, and few new lymph nodes in her chest. Her diagnosis then changed to stage 4 non-smoking lung cancer. With stage 4 cancer, treatment focus is no longer curative and moves to a focus on quality versus quantity of life.

Jenny will begin a more aggressive triple chemo regimen (Avastin, Alimta, and carboplatin) on 3/9 and will receive infusions every 3 weeks. Jenny will also begin brain radiation on 3/18, and she is scheduled to have 3 sessions of target brain radiation to the 5 brain lesions.

Each month before the cancer diagnosis, money was tight, and they have always lived on a budget. Kyle used to work a second job, took extra assignments after work, and worked summer school every year. Kyle can no longer work these extra jobs as he is needed to care for Jenny and their two beautiful children, Ellis (6 years old) and Winnie (2 years old). The inability for Kyle to work his second job and extra assignments has cost them about $40,000 annually. Jenny and her family would never ask for help, and that's why I, along with my family, have decided to start this Gofundme for them.

The money earned from this Gofundme will help to alleviate some of the monthly cost of insurance, treatment, and travel associated with the new cancer treatment. The money will also help Jenny to start complimentary alternative therapies to help alleviate pain, discomforts, and stress from cancer/cancer treatment. Some alternative therapies that her medical team has suggested are acupuncture, lymphatic massages, meditation, etc. These alternative therapies are proven to be beneficial for cancer patients but are not covered by her insurance, and she will have to pay out of pocket for all of them. Most importantly, the money will allow for small family trips and new memories to be made as they cannot afford them on their own. Jenny's oncologist told her that she needed to live her life to the fullest and make as many memories as possible with her family. Jenny's future is full of fears of the unknowns, and this money can help her family to be better prepared for the journey that is ahead of them.

Thank you for being a part of Jenny's journey with cancer, and please continue to pray that God will provide her family with a miracle.

Updated 6/1/2023:

Hello Everyone. I started this GoFundMe for my sister in March 2022 after the lung cancer metastasized to her brain. I thought an update was due since it’s been over a year.

Jenny has continued to receive cancer treatments and received 3 thoracentesis procedures since my first post. The aggressive triple medication/chemo regimen was able to reduce the cancer but after Jenny transitioned into a maintenance dose, she began to have cancer progression and the development of pleural effusion (Fluid around the lung). Jenny then went to be approved for a clinical trial for an oral targeted drug for her specific gene mutation (EGFR Exon 20). The clinical trial drug was able to give Jenny a great quality of life with less daily side effects compared to harsher treatments like chemo. Unfortunately, in May 2023 Jenny’s scan revealed cancer progression and a reoccurrence of the pleural effusion which meant it was time to end the clinical trial medication. Jenny has also had 3 new small brain lesions found on a recent brain MRI, and the lesions are continuing to be monitored by her oncology team. Jenny’s oncology team has started Jenny on an FDA approved target drug for her specific gene mutation. Jenny has received one infusion of the new targeted drug but had an infusion reaction and needed to stop halfway through the infusion. We are hopeful that the second infusion will be tolerated by her body, but if not her team will work on a new treatment plan.

Jenny’s YouTube family has continued to grow and has been a huge source of strength for her through this cancer journey. The gratitude I have for her YouTube family is indescribable. Jenny’s YouTube family has given her hope when times were dark, encouragement when she has been defeated, and love when she needed it most. So, thank you for your continuous support to Jenny and Kyle, you all have been such a driving force to help her keep fighting this cancer.

The GoFundMe was initially started after multiple requests from family and friends who wanted to help Jenny and Kyle during this difficult time but did not know how to help. This GoFundMe has been such a beautiful blessing to the Appleford family and the generosity she has received is truly miraculous. So, thank you to all the amazing people that have supported Jenny during her cancer journey.

The GoFundMe will continue to stay open as an outlet for people who would like to support Jenny and her family during this difficult cancer journey. The money earned from this GoFundMe will continue to help alleviate some of the monthly cost of insurance, treatment, alterative therapies, and travel associated with cancer treatment. Also, the money from this GoFundMe will allow for Jenny to make memorable family trips, to help improve Jenny’s quality of life, and to help Jenny maximize the time she has with her family.

Thank you for being a part of Jenny's journey with cancer, and please continue to pray that God will provide her family with a miracle.