Sandy the Survivor

If you know Sandy Otto, you know that there is no way for words to describe what an amazing, loving, and hardworking person she is. She shines brightly in this world, and we need her light here, and after years of fighting on her own, she needs our help to keep her shining.

In December 2014, Sandy found a lump in her breast. After countless doctor visits and scans, she was diagnosed with stage two HER2 positive breast cancer. But if you know Sandy, you know she is feisty as hell and more than a little stubborn! She fought back and won that battle after treatment and lumpectomy. In the next six years, she finished raising her boys by helping them get off to the next stage in life. Sandy loves traveling and spending time at the ocean whenever the opportunity arose, working hard to pay the substantial medical expenses cancer left her with and just living life to the fullest, every day.


 Then, in July of 2019, Sandy started coughing. She chalked it up to allergies at first, but when it didn't go away after a couple of weeks, she went to the doctor. After numerous visits and several diagnoses ranging from bronchitis to pneumonia, none of the antibiotics or steroids offered relief from the now almost constant coughing. Finally, in February 2020, the coughing fits had become unbearable, and even Sandy's stubborn optimism wasn't enough to disguise how she was feeling. She found a doctor that would give her the answer that none of us ever wanted to hear. Sandy's breast cancer had returned, and this time it was Stage 4 breast cancer that had metastasized to her lungs. Even after making strict changes that she never veered from to her already healthy lifestyle, she was sick again. It was news that would stop most in their tracks, but not Sandy. She immediately started to fight back again. She spent two weeks in the hospital following her diagnosis. Her scans had revealed a large amount of fluid/infection that was surrounding her right lung that caused it to collapse. She needed to have a painful procedure performed that required Sandy to be placed in a medically induced coma for 24 hours. During that time she had the fluid and infection flushed from the lining outside of her lung, a scaring agent was sprayed through the lining of her lung to prevent future lung collapse, and a chest tube placed.  After only a week of recovering at home, Sandy went back to work. Shortly after, she began chemotherapy treatments, which are stressing her body and energy. The chemo successfully slowed the cancer growth for a short time, but that victory has been short-lived. At her scan in July 2020, they found that the cancer was growing again. Her oncologist suggested a more aggressive form of chemo and has also referred her to a highly sought-after specialist. We hope he will have some ideas on how to help Sandy beat this as well as helping her to be more comfortable in the meantime.

I'm telling you this because this long and challenging journey has been the fight of her life, and now it's time to call for reinforcement. Please help ease some of the burdens that Sandy has been carrying on her shoulders. Any help is appreciated and received with all the warmth of our hearts and can genuinely help lessen the financial stress of her mounting medical bills on top of her day to day living expenses. Please give so this beloved mother, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin, and friend can focus on her health and all she has ahead of her. With our help, she can focus on the very long road ahead of her, but she has so much to fight for, and we know she will continue fighting. Fiercely. With our love and support, we can help her win this war.


With lots of love and gratitude,

Judi Johnson, Cindy Otto, and Erin Waddell