Let’s Help Jillian Nelson Beat Cancer

Jillian Nelson is in a battle against cancer, it began in November of 2021 with a diagnosis of breast cancer, caught early… Or so we were told. In the middle of chemo it was determined that Jillian’s breast cancer had metastasized to her liver. Pretty scary for her Family and loved ones, but somehow Jillian held strong. Doing her research and understanding what this diagnosis meant, combined with her complete trust in God to lean on, she refused to succumb to fear. She has a loving Husband and two young Son’s to keep her strong. In the process of finding the spot on Jillian’s liver, there were other spots that lit up on the PET scan, it has since been determined that Jillian actually has TWO separate cancers, the 2nd cancer being Peritoneal Mesothelioma. The tumor that the surgeon removed was attached to Jillian’s colon, we are all thankful it was found and removed. As we all tried to process this new information, Jillian continued to stay strong, even though she knew she had to do whatever it takes to fight these beasts. Unfortunately there is NOT a Mesothelioma specialist in state, so thru the help of Jillian’s Brother, we found a specialist at Stanford Women’s Cancer Center in the Bay Area. This new specialist explained that we needed to get the Breast Cancer under control before we can even address the Mesothelioma, which will require travel to California multiple times. Thankfully Jillian and Mark have excellent health insurance that covers most of the medical expenses above deductibles. The weekly trips to Billings for chemo, scans, surgeries, blood work and physical therapy is an ongoing out of pocket expense, and with fuel prices up so high, it’s a very real expense. Jillian’s surgeon at Stanford put her on yet another 4 rounds of chemo, in hopes of shrinking the other spots that showed up on the PET scan, those treatments are now done and the next step is more scans, with the intention of a major surgery in January at Stanford in Northern California. This is not like most surgeries, it’s extremely advanced, she’s having Cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC it’s an involved procedure that lasts an average of 8-14 hours, depending on the extent of disease. Patients typically remain in the hospital for 10-12 days following surgery. This will require that we make the trip to California and will be on the road for 3 + weeks and will include hotel stay in Palo Alto in order to be near enough to see Jillian daily.

So regardless of the fact that Jillian had hoped to not need help from her Friends, Family and Loved Ones, WE have assured her that in a situation like this, it’s okay to say “I can use a hand, IF you are in a position to help and would like to” BUT most of all I would appreciate your prayers and wishes for me to win this battle. So please, NO PRESSURE, but if you’ve been feeling helpless (as many have told us), and wanting to help at whatever capacity you can, it would be so appreciated, and your prayers will be cherished. If you know Jillian, you know she has a heart of GOLD and helps those around her in every way she can. I’m her Mom, and I can assure you that she and Mark have welcomed Friends into their home when they needed a helping hand, she had donated her blood for over 2 years, as frequently as they let her, before her cancer diagnosis put a stop to the donations. Not to mention she has been a volunteer for going on 10 years for a non-profit in her area that works hard to raise funds to provide Christmas for well over 500 seniors who live in their valley, that includes all the shopping, wrapping and going and spending time with these seniors every Holiday Season. Jillian is actually on the board, and she see‘s this as a very important gift as well as she loves teaching her two young Son’s that GIVING is one of the most important things we can all do for each other.

And to clarify, these funds will be held in an account to cover the out of pocket expenses, primarily travel expenses as there will be multiple trips to Stanford between surgery and follow up.

I would like to add that as serious and overwhelming as Jillian’s diagnosis is, we have been blessed to have met another very sweet and amazing young woman who had almost an identical diagnosis, in her 30’s as well, of Breast Cancer and Peritoneal Mesothelioma. This sweet new Friend of ours is now approaching 50. She too is quite the warrior and has given us hope that Jillian can and WILL beat this. Since stress is not good when battling cancer, we’re doing all we can to mitigate the stress.