Help Support Sarah's Breast Cancer Battle

                                Sarah's Breast Cancer Battle - Warrior, Teacher, Mom

Sarah Julius has been one of my special best friends for 35 years. We grew up as neighbors in Sioux City, living in our family homes until we were old enough to spread our wings and fly.  When we were children, you would find us together almost daily riding bicycles, visiting her grandmother, Mary, or having sleepovers.  We worked together at the same convenience store in high school. We also spent as many minutes as we could together between classes at school, sharing gossip, hopes of a date with our crushes, and dreams of the future. When we were a bit older, we went on a lot of spur of the moment road trips. Those were the best times! 

Over the years, Sarah and I have grown on separate paths, she in Omaha and I remaining in Sioux City. However, we always kept in touch as often as we could in our busy lives. Sarah eventually reached her long term goal, a dream I know she's had since childhood. This was to become an educator, an elementary teacher. Sarah has always had a special knack with children and this dream becoming a reality for her was a celebration to all of her hard work and commitment to follow her passion to serve the little ones so dear to her heart.

Sarah's career quickly took off and I remember her excitement as she prepared for her first year of school in a classroom of her own students. Sadly, there were many hurdles throughout the last school year for her.  The first came in November when her sister, Emily, passed away from leukemia. Emily was one of her closest confidants and best friends, so naturally, this shook her to her core. Sarah still mourns for her sister's love and support every day.  Shortly after, I personally had a battle with lung cancer. Sarah was with me every day during my ten-day hospital recovery. I am forever grateful for her positivity and strength that she brought to me during this time.  Then, the pandemic hit, just as Sarah was getting ready to return to school from spring break. Sarah had to abruptly switch over to distance learning and end the school year early.  She struggled with the lack of closure with her many 5th-grade students that she had come to enjoy throughout the school year. It was especially hard because those students would be moving on to middle school in the fall. 

In July, it was with a heavy heart that Sarah informed me of her breast cancer diagnosis (invasive ductal carcinoma). It all began when Sarah went in for her annual mammogram at the end of June. After two biopsies, Sarah had two confirmed tumors in her right breast. After meeting with her care team of many doctors and carefully weighing all of her options, she chose to have a double mastectomy on September 10th. Initially, Sarah and her doctors thought the surgery was successful.  She was in a lot of pain and was facing many weeks of recovery, followed up with either radiation therapy or chemotherapy, and then reconstructive surgery.  However, she was feeling empowered by being on the path to healing and eventually achieving a full recovery.

Shortly after her surgery, Sarah developed deep vein thrombosis (blood clots) in her left leg and a minor blood clot in her right leg complicating her recovery. Then, tragically, during Sarah's follow-up appointment with her surgeon, she learned the pathology test results from her surgery indicated that one of the tumors had moved during the surgery and was not successfully removed as the surgeon had thought. This is an extreme rarity.  Sarah was devastated by this news. She will be having additional surgery to remove the missed tumor on October 16th, starting the process all over again and setting her recovery back further.

Sarah has a wonderful support system including many friends and family members.  She has remained positive throughout all of this the past few months, however, she is struggling to make ends meet with the cost of medical tests, scans, surgeries,  follow-up cancer treatment, and reconstructive surgery.  Sarah has been on leave from her job as a teacher since August, therefore, she has received a reduction in income. Due to the time setback needed for her additional unexpected surgery, Sarah will be without income for a minimum of three months.  Right now, Sarah is unable to predict the future and is taking one day at a time.  Without financial support from others, it will be difficult for Sarah to solely focus on her treatments and win her battle with breast cancer. Sarah is already on a tight budget as a single mother to a wonderful 8-year-old little boy.  Sarah is a wonderful mother and her son, Thomas, is her whole world!  He has been very worried about his mom and what their future looks like. Sarah is committed to trying to provide as much normalcy for him during this process as she can.

As I share her story through this campaign, my hope is that she will be able to lean on those that may be able to help offset some of these costs. Sarah and I completely understand that it may be difficult to provide financial support during this pandemic. Sarah understands that focusing on her health and well-being right now is a priority for a positive outcome in the long run. Asking for help is difficult for Sarah,  so I am doing it for her. I do know she is extremely thankful for any amount of assistance she receives. Any money raised will go toward her medical and living expenses. If anyone is uncomfortable contributing through the Go Fund Me site, please send any gift cards, prepared foods, or monetary donations to her directly at her home address.  Please comment below or reach out to Sarah if you need her address. 

I cannot express enough how I would like to minimize the impact that this horrible disease has had on Sarah and her family. Her family has faced a lot of loss and heartache this past year.  Even if we do not collectively reach the goal that we have set, we have at least given some reprieve to her so that she can focus on treatment and recovery, and not stress about how she is going to make ends meet. Lastly, I request that all of us support and maintain hope for all of those that continue to fight this battle, celebrate with those who have survived it, and memorialize those who have passed away from it.  Thank you! 

Sincerely,

Nicky Eaton