Megan's Cancer Battle
Donation protected
“It’s better to be safe than sorry.” A phrase my father drilled into my head since I can remember. I feel so thankful that he did, because this advice may very well save my life.
In the beginning of May I noticed a small, pea sized lump in my left breast. After having my menstrual cycle, it went away. Me, being no stranger to cysts, I chalked it up to just that. Come the beginning of June, I found another lump. This one was bigger and sore. I made an appointment (better to be safe than sorry) at my local OBGYN, being 29, they didn’t feel the need to rush and I got my first appointment on Friday, July 24th. The lump was suspicious, so my doctor was able to get me into ultrasound that day. From ultrasound I was sent to the breast health department for a mammogram. Once they were done there, I was sent back to my doctor. The look on every single persons face, even through masks, was sad. I had sad eyes all around me.
After spending all day at the hospital, I was informed I needed to come back Monday for a biopsy. I was questioned about family history and a term I had never heard before, but has completely changed my life, BRCA. This term kept coming up in questions and conversations among doctors and I had no idea what it meant. Come to find out, it is a genetic mutation and it unfortunately runs on my fathers side of the family.
Wednesday, July 29th, 2020 I received a phone call that would change my life forever. It was barely past 8:00am when I saw that my doctors office was calling. I knew instantly it wasn’t good. I pick up and on the other line I heard that familiar voice of a woman, one whom I had just met last week, but knew she was and is going to be a huge part of my life now. Time stood still, “It is cancer. I’m so sorry sweet girl. I need you to come into the office today.” I didn’t really know what to say, other than okay. I stared at my phone for what seemed like forever. I called my mom and when I heard her voice, I broke down. Telling my parents was a lot harder than I ever thought. Edgar walked in the room and held me while I sobbed. Later I would find out that Friday, August 7th, my 30th birthday will be my first oncology appointment. I have Ductal Invasive Carcenoma – Grade 3 – Triple Negative.
My mind instantly went to my three beautiful children. They can’t lose their mom, I have to fight this, I have to be strong. I’m not ready to leave this Earth yet, I’ve suffered from extreme anxiety and agoraphobia most of my life. I want to travel, I want to take my kids to fun places and make amazing memories. I want to live! I need to live, for them.
My current living situation isn’t ideal. The mobile home we are currently renting is full of mold. Most of the windows are single pane and leak. Our skylight and bathroom ceiling leaked until recently when the landlord put a metal roof over the existing roof. Mind you the roof doesn’t come down far enough to let the rain run off of the house, but instead it goes inside my walls. My children get sick often, especially my youngest. We’ve spent endless money on air purifiers and cleaners to try to keep them breathing easier in the last years. I can only imagine what recovery here will look like for me. I’m honestly embarrassed and afraid to admit this because I don’t want to be evicted for telling the truth. At this point, I don’t care. I want to be entirely transparent with you all through my journey.
My doctor wants to schedule me for a double mastectomy as soon as I go through the physical and the rest of the scans to see if the cancer has spread. I will have drains coming out of me. I will only be able to sleep in a recliner in an upright position. I will have to be insanely careful with everything that I do during this time. We spoke briefly about chemo, a hysterectomy, (60% of woman with the BRCA gene develop ovarian cancer) and the journey I have ahead of me. These are just the minor things we spoke of. This is going to probably be the biggest fight of my life. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t absolutely terrified. I have received so many messages from Facebook friends and family that has truly warmed my heart. I’ve had many woman reach out to me and tell me their story and let me know that I have a tribe behind me cheering me on. I couldn’t be more thankful for those people, especially the ones who have lost their loved ones to this terrible disease.
The reason we are reaching out for some help is because a lot of things will be changing. Edgar will no longer be working and neither will my mom once the appointments start next week. They will be taking care of me and my children. They are the most selfless people I know. I can’t imagine battling this without them and my dear father. I will also have many appointments, hotel stays during surgery times, and the only income in the home will be my social security disability (which I assure you isn’t very much.) We have some money saved away that we wanted to put towards a new or used mold free mobile home. We’ve already had to take a bit from that for loss of work to put towards bills. We are praying that my insurance covers most of the costs, but there are special needs with my situation. I will need ambulatory services to each appointment due to my seizure disorder. That could mean $1,000 per trip, ambulance rides to and from Brewer and Bangor or even further depending on the situation. For those of you that don’t know, when my body becomes too stressed out or overwhelmed, I go into a seizure. It is non-epileptic, however if I were to have one in a vehicle after surgery or on my way to an appointment, without medical help, I might not be able to make these important life saving dates. Not to mention the increase of just the cost of living during a pandemic. The extra supplies to keep everything in the house as sanitary as possible.
If you cannot donate, that’s okay! I do ask that you please pray, or send positive vibes, love and light, whatever you may believe in, my way. Please share this and don’t be afraid to ask any questions! Like I mentioned before, I want to be completely transparent with all of you throughout this. My parents and I will be continuously updating this page and our pages as well. I want to thank all of you in advance for being apart of my tribe. We fight together!
#TeamMegan
P.S, My mom helped me with this and I cannot thank her enough. I've never been big on donations, or asking for help financially, but this is urgent. Thank you all for helping me feel comfortable enough to reach out to you. I love you all!
In the beginning of May I noticed a small, pea sized lump in my left breast. After having my menstrual cycle, it went away. Me, being no stranger to cysts, I chalked it up to just that. Come the beginning of June, I found another lump. This one was bigger and sore. I made an appointment (better to be safe than sorry) at my local OBGYN, being 29, they didn’t feel the need to rush and I got my first appointment on Friday, July 24th. The lump was suspicious, so my doctor was able to get me into ultrasound that day. From ultrasound I was sent to the breast health department for a mammogram. Once they were done there, I was sent back to my doctor. The look on every single persons face, even through masks, was sad. I had sad eyes all around me.
After spending all day at the hospital, I was informed I needed to come back Monday for a biopsy. I was questioned about family history and a term I had never heard before, but has completely changed my life, BRCA. This term kept coming up in questions and conversations among doctors and I had no idea what it meant. Come to find out, it is a genetic mutation and it unfortunately runs on my fathers side of the family.
Wednesday, July 29th, 2020 I received a phone call that would change my life forever. It was barely past 8:00am when I saw that my doctors office was calling. I knew instantly it wasn’t good. I pick up and on the other line I heard that familiar voice of a woman, one whom I had just met last week, but knew she was and is going to be a huge part of my life now. Time stood still, “It is cancer. I’m so sorry sweet girl. I need you to come into the office today.” I didn’t really know what to say, other than okay. I stared at my phone for what seemed like forever. I called my mom and when I heard her voice, I broke down. Telling my parents was a lot harder than I ever thought. Edgar walked in the room and held me while I sobbed. Later I would find out that Friday, August 7th, my 30th birthday will be my first oncology appointment. I have Ductal Invasive Carcenoma – Grade 3 – Triple Negative.
My mind instantly went to my three beautiful children. They can’t lose their mom, I have to fight this, I have to be strong. I’m not ready to leave this Earth yet, I’ve suffered from extreme anxiety and agoraphobia most of my life. I want to travel, I want to take my kids to fun places and make amazing memories. I want to live! I need to live, for them.
My current living situation isn’t ideal. The mobile home we are currently renting is full of mold. Most of the windows are single pane and leak. Our skylight and bathroom ceiling leaked until recently when the landlord put a metal roof over the existing roof. Mind you the roof doesn’t come down far enough to let the rain run off of the house, but instead it goes inside my walls. My children get sick often, especially my youngest. We’ve spent endless money on air purifiers and cleaners to try to keep them breathing easier in the last years. I can only imagine what recovery here will look like for me. I’m honestly embarrassed and afraid to admit this because I don’t want to be evicted for telling the truth. At this point, I don’t care. I want to be entirely transparent with you all through my journey.
My doctor wants to schedule me for a double mastectomy as soon as I go through the physical and the rest of the scans to see if the cancer has spread. I will have drains coming out of me. I will only be able to sleep in a recliner in an upright position. I will have to be insanely careful with everything that I do during this time. We spoke briefly about chemo, a hysterectomy, (60% of woman with the BRCA gene develop ovarian cancer) and the journey I have ahead of me. These are just the minor things we spoke of. This is going to probably be the biggest fight of my life. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t absolutely terrified. I have received so many messages from Facebook friends and family that has truly warmed my heart. I’ve had many woman reach out to me and tell me their story and let me know that I have a tribe behind me cheering me on. I couldn’t be more thankful for those people, especially the ones who have lost their loved ones to this terrible disease.
The reason we are reaching out for some help is because a lot of things will be changing. Edgar will no longer be working and neither will my mom once the appointments start next week. They will be taking care of me and my children. They are the most selfless people I know. I can’t imagine battling this without them and my dear father. I will also have many appointments, hotel stays during surgery times, and the only income in the home will be my social security disability (which I assure you isn’t very much.) We have some money saved away that we wanted to put towards a new or used mold free mobile home. We’ve already had to take a bit from that for loss of work to put towards bills. We are praying that my insurance covers most of the costs, but there are special needs with my situation. I will need ambulatory services to each appointment due to my seizure disorder. That could mean $1,000 per trip, ambulance rides to and from Brewer and Bangor or even further depending on the situation. For those of you that don’t know, when my body becomes too stressed out or overwhelmed, I go into a seizure. It is non-epileptic, however if I were to have one in a vehicle after surgery or on my way to an appointment, without medical help, I might not be able to make these important life saving dates. Not to mention the increase of just the cost of living during a pandemic. The extra supplies to keep everything in the house as sanitary as possible.
If you cannot donate, that’s okay! I do ask that you please pray, or send positive vibes, love and light, whatever you may believe in, my way. Please share this and don’t be afraid to ask any questions! Like I mentioned before, I want to be completely transparent with all of you throughout this. My parents and I will be continuously updating this page and our pages as well. I want to thank all of you in advance for being apart of my tribe. We fight together!
#TeamMeganP.S, My mom helped me with this and I cannot thank her enough. I've never been big on donations, or asking for help financially, but this is urgent. Thank you all for helping me feel comfortable enough to reach out to you. I love you all!
Organizer
Megan Pung
Organizer
Ellsworth, ME