Join Team Tammy on her Journey to Healing!

 "Though war break out against me I will be confident" - Psalm 23:7

 Battling breast cancer has been and will be challenging physically, emotional, spiritually, and financially.  We are determined to ease Tammy’s burden in each of these areas so that she can focus all her energy and strength on HEALING.  The purpose of this page is to ask for your FINANCIAL support.  Tammy will not be able to work throughout her course of treatments – in total about 8 months.  Medical bills, COBRA insurance payments, and a drastic decrease in income will create a mountain of financial burden for this single mom.  This burden is a literal weight on Tammy’s shoulders, and if we could each take just a fraction of that weight and place it on our own shoulders, we may not even feel the impact – but Tammy will. She will feel the relief of weight lifted, she will feel strength from your support, and she will have a renewed focus on HEALING with each gift.  Please, consider donating and being a part of Tammy’s journey.  

You can follow her along the way through her Facebook page.  A brief summary of the journey so far is below:
 
November 30th, 2020 my dear friend Tammy’s world turned upside down when she heard the terrifying words “You have breast cancer.”

The day after the breast cancer diagnosis everything changed; there have been so many appointments and so much information. I don’t believe anyone wants to learn this much about cancer!  Tammy has triple positive breast cancer, which means she is positive for the HER2 mutation, is estrogen receptor positive, and progesterone receptor positive.  In short, this means that Tammy’s cancer is very aggressive, but also very treatable because targeted therapies exist today.  The survival odds are great because she caught it so early! (Get your mammograms, ladies!)  Tammy’s best chance at survival is to undergo surgery to remove the tumor, chemo to kill any possible remaining cancer cells in her body, and then radiation to make sure it is gone from her breast. All this will be followed by hormone therapy for 5 years to ensure that this cancer does not return.

Surgery was performed January 15th with great success.  The tumor and the lymph nodes removed were clear! Great news, yet this did not change her treatment plan. Chemotherapy is the next step 3 months of weekly treatment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Radiation will follow for 4-5 weeks daily and finally 5 years of endocrine hormone therapy. This is not a sprint but a marathon!

Chemotherapy will begin February 16th with placement of a port followed by her 1st round of treatment on the 17th. We are all praying the side effects will be mild but until we begin this step there are many unknowns.

Tammy’s career as a flight attendant, which she loves, exposes her to so many different viruses, germs, and now add Covid to the list the risks are real. Chemotherapy will compromise Tammy’s immune system and her Oncologist was VERY clear that Tammy cannot fly for 6-8 months for her own health and safety.

All that know Tammy know she is a fighter, speaker of truth and one of the most compassionate people you will find!  As a single mom, we (and she) hoped she would be able to work during some of this journey, to pay her bills, and provide for her daughter and simply buy groceries!  Unfortunately, that will not be the case and because she can’t work at all, her income will decrease AND she will have to pay a COBRA insurance premium (nearly 11 x her regular premium) on top of medical bills and normal expenses. All these everyday worries are exactly what this page is for.

So many of you have asked how they can help, first and foremost please PRAY for complete healing and peace as she climbs this mountain in front of her! Cards, texts and messages also brighten her days more than you know! At some point rides to treatment and meals may be an option for now so many have offered we have people waiting for their call to help.

Tammy has felt and continues to feel the love of you all and considers herself so blessed with such an extended family, so to put it plainly, if you can help, she can use it!

This journey was not an expected one but through her Faith and Love for life she will walk through this - inspiring us all along the way!

"This I recall to my mind; therefore, I have hope.  The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness!” – Lamentations 3:21-23