Our sweet bright light, Jennifer Gray, needs help

Our sweet and lovely bright light, Jennifer Gray, was diagnosed with the unthinkable Cancer diagnosis last month. Jennifer was a Medford High classmate and would have graduated the class of 1984. She moved to Chico between her junior and senior year. Jennifer is also a UC Davis alumni, class of 1990. Anyone who had the pleasure of meeting or knowing Jennifer, found out quickly that she has the kindest heart, always lifting others up and spreading love.

Jennifer was given 6 months to 2 years, maybe 3 to live. She is already in some pain and discomfort and it will only get worse. Any contribution or share of this post will help us reach the goal and is greatly appreciated.

I offered to start this Go Fund Me for Jennifer so she could spend some time over the next two weeks on a road trip while she is still able and before her treatments start the first of September. She is hoping to camp some along the way. Camping and road tripping are just a couple of Jennifer’s favorite things to do. Jennifer will also need this money for her treatments, as a lot of them will be out of pocket. 

Jennifer is self employed and sadly doesn’t get paid if she doesn’t work. Due to her loss of hours the prior year and a half, due to covid, Jennifer has already suffered financially and doesn’t have a cushion for the road ahead. This gofundme is to help ease her worries as she goes through treatment and so that she can focus on just that.

Even with this unthinkable diagnosis, our Jen has proven to be a bright light as always. Remaining positive as much as she can and choosing to live a little while she still can.

Below is Jen’s diagnosis and treatment options in her own words. I appreciate your time in reading this. 

Jennifer will be off of Facebook during this difficult time but will be able to view and read your well wishes on her gofundme account. 

Colleen

Diagnosis: GI Cancer - Stage IV

Technically it's called an Invasive Poorly differentiated Adeno-Carcinoma with Signet Rings Cell Type. It has metastasized into lymph nodes around my stomach and there are micro tumors on the peritoneum. Prognosis: 6 months to 2, maybe 3 years. They found the tumor July 7 and after much testing determined it was terminal On July 27. Two days before my 55th Birthday.

Kaiser has offered me a choice between Palliative Care which is a Chemo/Immunotherapy regimen to improve the quality of my remaining life or participating in the National Health Institute (NHI) Clinical Trial which I qualified for. The Clinical Trial would begin with a far more intensive Chemo regimen using experimental agents and could potentially shrink the tumor enough that surgery would be an option. The surgery would require a minimum two week hospital stay in Washington D.C. I have started getting second opinions from UCSF and Stanford (out of pocket) to find out if there are other options and to get a better understanding of this Clinical Trial.

My energy level is dropping rapidly. I truly appreciate everyone's well-wishes and any contributions. I'm only hesitant about all of this because I really can't dedicate much energy at all to FB anymore. It's far too emotional.