Leanne’s wish ❤️

Below is they story of the wonderful Leanne. She had a very big wish of being able to share a core memory in Florida with her family. If you can help we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much for the sharing & donating, it means so much to this amazing family ❤️

“Let me introduce myself, my name is Leanne, I have been with my husband for 20 years, we have four beautiful children ages ranging from 17-8, Luke (17), Jodie (14), Conor (10), Ryan (8). Ryan my youngest was diagnosed with Aspergers, this is a mild form of autism.

I was laying in a bath a couple of weeks before my best friends wedding and went to shave under my arm and felt a hard non-moveable lump, panic set in because I watched my mother batter breast cancer a few years earlier. Since that happened, I have been an ad vide looker for lumps. This was a fluke that I found this due to the fact I always showered and for some reason I chose to have a bath. I went to the breast cancer clinic the Monday before the wedding and had the lump biopsied, this was extremely uncomfortable and had an ultrasound at the same time. I was told to see the doctor after the procedure, and he spoke to me about the results and expressed the worry due to family history with breast cancer. He sent me to a genetics doctor and that is when I found out that I have the same gene as my mom BRCA 2 mutated gene. A week later I was booked and had a double mastectomy and 2 weeks after that is when I started a grueling seventeen sessions of chemo. . During my treatments I lost my hair and learned to play with different wigs. After treatments where completed I had a new scan and the results from this were extremely exciting, I was cancer free. This was a new outlook, and I could return to my life to normal everyday challenges with kids.

Everything was going great, and I healed very well, after a couple of years I decided to get my breast redone. It was time to get my expander surgery to stretch the muscle in my chest to make room for the implants. This was exciting for me, a fresh look and clean start. The first surgery was a success, but I did not feel myself, I could not use my right are, my back was constantly going into spasms. I went back to see the doctor who sent me to a bone scan, with radiation to make sure the cancer was not in my bones, the doctor told me I was clear, this was 2021. I was still in pain but manageable with some pain meds this went on for a couple of months and by June/July I could not tolerate the pain. When things turned worse was a Thursday night my temperature was high and I found lumps in my neck, my husband brought me to the hospital. This was a 5 week stay getting MRI’s, CT scans, ultrasounds but no one was giving me answers. My doctor came to me the next day with answer, He asked me to have someone with me, so my husband a, mother and father came. This is when I learned that my cancer was back, and it had spread into my bones. It was in my whole spine, right color bone, all the right-side ribs, my pelvis and my liver were covered. I told the doctor that I was going home, and he agreed and sent me home with a medication pump that had to be filled everyday by the palliative care nurse. I used this method for a few months and then I wanted to make memories with my children, so I made them remove my intravenous pump at home and I started oral medication and had to go to hospital every 4 weeks for a bone strengthener. I ran into a problem when I started my chemo tablets my calcium levels rose and my kidneys were shutting down, this left me back in the hospital. When the calcium passed through my body, and I started to come around this left me very weak and immobile for so long that I had to regain the strength to dress my self or just the basic care needs. I pushed myself with the help from my husband and family and friends. The doctor told me that this cancer is inoperable and that it is terminal. I know what my prognosis is, I do not have long on this earth. This kills me that I will not see my children grow up get married, or become a grandmother, all the things we take for granted.“