Helping Amanda’s family

For those who may not know, I am Kaylee. I am Amanda's twin sister and have written this with help from our older sister, Megan.

There are bound to be a few surprised by some of this; imagine ours. When we learned our dad was diagnosed with a highly treatable head and neck cancer last summer, Amanda got right to work making plans to come home from Japan for a few weeks. She and the girls were able to spend time with him and be a part of his local support system for major surgery and recovery. Not long after she first made those arrangements, we learned our dad also has aggressive stage IV kidney cancer.

A few weeks after the surgery, Amanda and the girls returned to Japan, where she and her husband had been working and living, along with their three girls and three dogs. They had planned to remain in Japan for another four years, during which they would be able to save for the very large expense of taking one extra-large dog (as well as one large and one small one) with them to their next place of residence.

With dad’s most recent diagnosis, Amanda and her husband agreed time is precious. She and the girls relocated to Fargo, ND in October, where they continue to be able to be a big part of dad’s local support through his treatment. Amanda took a very large pay cut to accept a job stateside; and with the costs associated with living separately and higher prices for services (childcare, car insurance, new healthcare copays, etc.), finances have quickly become tighter than they could have planned for prior to last summer. Not knowing exactly what the next weeks, months, or years would look like this was considered a temporary relocation.

However, Amanda would soon have her own surprising news to share. During a primary care visit, her doctor inquired about a nodule on her thyroid. She had previously been advised there was no need to monitor it. Fortunately, this physician felt otherwise and ordered some testing. Days before Christmas, Amanda learned her results were highly suspicious for papillary thyroid cancer.

Just a few weeks later, she sought out the surgeon who had performed dad’s head and neck operation last summer. Within a week, she had a portion of her thyroid removed. This time, the biopsy confirmed the nodule was in fact cancerous. With good margins, this seemed to be the end of the cancer treatment. However, Amanda was informed she will need to see endocrinology for the rest of her life; the medical facilities where she would receive care in Japan do not have endocrinology services. Further, the Japanese healthcare system has been regularly denying care to non-Japanese civilians since the beginning of the COVID ’19 pandemic and has a different standard of care. It has been recommended that she not return to Japan, so she can meet these medical needs.

And still, there’s more. Upon seeing the endocrinologist, further concern was expressed for one of Amanda’s lymph nodes. Another biopsy was ordered, and just days ago she learned, the lymph node is also highly suspicious for cancer. There is more cancer treatment yet to come, and unfortunately not over as she previously thought.

As their family struggles emotionally with being separated, they are also facing large financial barriers in permanently relocating to the states with their dogs, further exasperated by the extenuating circumstances detailed above. And so, her husband and dogs remain in Japan for the time being.

Our goal is to be able to ease some of this burden and bring this family back together, where they can continue to support each other, receive the necessary medical care, and continue to be close to dad while he is in treatment as well.

If you can, please consider donating in support of this goal. Please also keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

*pictured is Amanda post-surgery with her three stuffed dogs representing her live ones: Draco, Bellatrix, and Luna.