Support Beth's fight against breast cancer

My friend, Beth Bourdon, has cancer. 

If you’ve read my reporting, there’s a good chance you've seen Beth's work in it. As my friend and FOIA lawyer, she’s helped me and countless others with records requests pro bono. A career public defender representing poor people who can’t afford a lawyer, Beth is a generous person to her core.

 

I’ll tell you a story she’s far too modest to share. One day I was scrolling Twitter and noticed Beth had retweeted a link to a fundraiser for a Twitter nemesis of hers who was raising money for her pet cat’s vet expenses. I messaged Beth, saying I thought they were enemies. They were, she said, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the cat that the person had rescued, and donated anonymously.

That’s who Beth is. 

She passed up higher paying jobs in private practice to work a more personally rewarding job defending indigent people. Her job being personally rewarding isn't reflected in her bank account, and now she’s facing what's likely to be between $40,000 to $50,000 in cancer-related expenses. 

I’d like to ask that you show Beth the same generosity she has quietly shown to so many others.

In June she had her first mammogram, which recommended a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound. The results of that recommended yet another ultrasound on the left breast and a biopsy on the right breast. On August 1, 2023, Beth went in for her biopsy and was told that it's not a matter of if the cells are cancerous, it's a matter of what type. A few days later, the cancer was typed as Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC; very common). She is ER/PR positive and HER2 negative; both of these things are good, apparently, and her lymph nodes aren't involved. But the doctors wanted an MRI. The MRI recommended an ultrasound biopsy of the left breast and a CT scan of her liver (this is probably a hemangioma that she's been walking around her whole life with).

Beth will be having a double mastectomy with immediate reconstructive surgery (tissue expanders), likely in a few weeks, and was told she'll be out of work around 4 weeks after that surgery. She will have to go for several office visits to expand the tissue, and then there will be a follow up surgery to insert medical implants. It's unknown if Beth will need radiation; if she does, that will be 20 treatments. She likely will not need chemo and instead will need to take a hormone blocker daily for 5-7 years.  

Beth likes to joke about being divorced, but the point is that means there's no one earning money to help pay bills while she's out of work (she's burning through all of her paid sick and vacation time for all her appointments), and there's no one at home to care for her while she recovers from both upcoming surgeries. Beth's daughter is going to take time off of her fairly recent job to take care of her mom; since her daughter's job is new, she has very little PTO to cover her time out of work. So, that's two people missing salaries after what will at least be two surgeries.

Beth has better than average insurance and is currently out of pocket around $800 without any major medical expenses (yet), and she has an upcoming CT scan, a doctor appointment with the plastic surgeon, a doctor appointment with the anesthesiologist, an appointment for bloodwork, then the surgery (three doctors: anesthesiologist, surgical oncologist and reconstructive surgeon) and hospital stay, follow up doctor visits, medication daily for 5 to 7 years, potential radiation treatments, at least one follow up surgery and two weeks out of work for that surgery, various scans and MRIs... 

There are so many uncertainties that I'm wanting to give her something certain, so she can focus on healing. I want Beth to know that she doesn't have to worry about missed pay, medical expenses, expenses associated with her care after her surgeries, and her living expenses. That's what this crowdfunding campaign will go to, and all donations are greatly appreciated by me, Beth and her family. I'm asking for $40,000 for her, but I would really like the end goal of this campaign to be $50,000 to ensure everything is more than covered. Beth is the beneficiary of this money and will have complete control over the funds and how they're distributed among her expenses.

Thanks for taking the time to read this campaign. If you know Beth, she doesn't want your last dollar and she doesn't want to take away from a campaign for a person whose needs are greater than hers. For those who are able to donate, she and I thank you for your generosity. For those unable to donate but willing to share a link to this campaign on social media, we thank you for that kindness.