Ashley's Medical Bills

Hello, my name is Kimberly and I am Ashley's childhood friend since we were about 12 years old. She is a kind, humble, loving person that would do whatever she could to help a family or friend in need even if that meant giving the last $10 she had so a niece or nephew would have diapers. While raising children alone is not easy she always tries to stay positive for her girls and give them as much as she can. Ashley shows them solid values, and good work ethics all while trying to raise strong independent girls. I am hoping to raise funds to help her and her family out with the new incoming medical bills and help ease the stress of reduced income.

Ashley was diagnosed with AFAP (Attenuated Familial Adenomatous Polyposis) in 2020. This is an inherited gene mutation that causes colon polyps to grow and advance to colon cancer very quickly. She started the recommended preventive screening that consists of yearly upper GI scopes and colonoscopies. The first colonoscopy in 2021 was fairly normal with only a couple of polyps being found and removed. Sadly her second colonoscopy conducted in December 2022 did not offer good news. The doctor found a 5cm mass present in her descending colon. A biopsy of the mass confirmed her worst fear, it was invasive colon cancer with possible lymph node involvement.

She was in complete disbelief for a small fraction of time, until the reality sunk in that this was happening. Her first concern was how she would break this news to her 12 and 16-year-old daughters. Her loving mother and boyfriend stood behind her as she delivered the heartbreaking news to them. The girls were devastated and worried for her well-being, but eventually took a stand beside her to support her in whatever the next step was.

The first steps were multiple scans to identify if her cancer had moved beyond the colon. The scans had mostly reassuring news that the cancer had not moved to any distant organs, but there were questionable-looking lymph nodes identified near her colon. They would not know for certain if the lymph nodes were cancerous with just imaging. The medical team quickly got a surgery date set for only a few weeks away where they would perform a total colectomy (removal of the whole colon) and also remove the nearby lymph nodes so they could be biopsied.

Her surgery was many hours long but it was deemed a successful one. All lymph nodes that had been removed and biopsied did show cancer cells in a few. She is currently about 3 weeks post-op fighting to conquer the first half of her battle which includes dealing with post-op pain, swelling, and significant torso bruising as well as learning how to adjust to eating solid foods again and learning what her new diet can and can not contain. The second half of her battle begins in a few weeks when 6 months of chemotherapy treatments begin.

Her income has been significantly reduced since she is unable to work while she recovers from surgery and possibly longer depending on how her body handles the chemo and any of the unfortunate side effects she will have to endure. Ashley does have medical insurance but it only covers a portion of what the bills will be.

Any donations and shares will be greatly appreciated.