Supporting the Gardner's

Hi, My name is Becky and I am fundraising to help my cousin, Shauna Gardner, and her family. Without this fundraiser Shauna and her family will have ZERO income during her very difficult time going thru chemotherapy and surgery to fight breast cancer AGAIN. The following explains exactly what her and her family have endured.

In 2019, Shauna had pain in her right breast which ultimately caused her to be diagnosed with an aggressive form of Ductal Carcinoma breast cancer in August 2019. Shauna underwent surgery to remove the mass and ultimately had 8 rounds of chemotherapy along with 31 rounds of radiation treatments to give her the best options to prevent the cancer from returning. Shauna was diagnosed with lymphedema, due to the removal of lymph nodes during surgery to remove the tumor, and she has had pain and swelling in her right arm because of this. Shauna was cancer free after her treatments and just recently had been starting to feel like her normal self(before she went through chemo and radiation). All of her regular checkups and screenings were clear until an MRI in December of 2023 showed some areas of concern in her right breast and right armpit which would ultimately be biopsied. Shortly after Christmas, Shauna was given the devastating news that her cancer had returned and appears to be isolated to a lymph node in her right armpit. She was diagnosed with Stage 1 , Grade 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. Thankfully, this aggressive form of cancer was found early enough that it hadn't spread to other areas of her body. Shauna recently started her first of 4 rounds of chemotherapy. Once chemo is completed, Shauna will undergo a double mastectomy. Due to already having lymphedema. the doctors are concerned about removing any additional lymph nodes. Her doctors told her that there was only a 3-5% chance of the cancer returning after what was done the first time. Knowing that the cancer has returned and knowing what she will have to go through again has been devastating.

During the 1st time Shauna was being treated for cancer, she had to miss almost a full year of work due to bone pain, feeling sick and run down in addition to the aches and pains that come with chemo and radiation treatments and surgeries.

Unfortunately, Shauna's husband Keith has not been able to work since June 2015, after needing to go out on full disability. Keith was a police officer for nearly 20 years before injuries he sustained while working as a policeman forced him to stop working altogether. The only income the Gardner family has had since 2015 has been Shauna's income. Keith has been trying to collect Social Security Disability income along with trying to collect from his police pension disability from being injured at work. Keith was injured in 2000 and again in 2010. He has severe nerve damage in his right foot, low back/buttocks from these injuries and the subsequent 10 surgeries he had that were related to it. Keith has been fighting to get his pension disability since 2015 and only recently won his appeal at the Appellate Court that said he is/was entitled to 30 months of temporary disability benefits coverage. Even though this ruling came out in October 2023, Keith still hasn't received any payments for this. He is continuing to fight for full disability through his pension in addition to continuing to file for disability benefits through Social Security. The financial stress that this has caused them since 2015 has been extremely difficult but now adding a cancer diagnosis for the 2nd time has made it that much worse.

Both Keith and Shauna are active in the Yorkville community and always do their best to help others. Keith is a volunteer Coach at Yorkville High School for the varsity football team and varsity boys basketball team. He also loves Coaching their 4 children's youth youth sports as much as he can. TJ in a 2023 Yorkville High School graduate and is currently a freshman at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Addisyn is a sophomore at Yorkville High School who plays club volleyball for the Cyclones and the high school girls' team. Drew and Teaghan are 10 year old twins who are in 5th grade at Bristol Bay Elementary school. Drew loves to play football, basketball and baseball and Teaghan loved to play volleyball, basketball and softball.

All money donated will go directly to Shauna to help support them during this fight for her life. Thank you to anyone who donates, shares this fundraiser and prays for healing for Shauna.