Support for Katie on her cancer journey

6 years ago, our dear friend, Katie Wakeham was diagnosed with Stage 0 DCIS Breast Cancer. As a preventative measure, she underwent a double mastectomy to prevent any future cancer from developing. In November, during an ultrasound of which the results were normal, Katie was blessed to receive a message that strongly encouraged her to request an MRI b/c her chest wall wasn’t visible with the implants (from reconstruction surgery). Even though she had received push back from her medical providers previously, Katie advocated for herself (if you know Katie, you know she is strong willed in this area- we love this about her) & insisted to have an MRI- this may have saved her life. The MRI revealed cancer in her armpit lymph nodes. Jan 29th of this year, Katie underwent complete axillary lymph node dissection surgery & had the remaining breast tissue & implants removed. Pathology reports after this confirmed the cancer was in all 25 of the lymph nodes removed.

Katie is now undergoing chemotherapy and while grateful for all of the new medical advances they have today (cold capping, human wigs, etc.) she is also discovering many of these expenses are not covered by insurance.

Katie is a fighter and seriously has the best attitude you can even imagine. We are not sure how anyone could be cuter or more positive while receiving chemotherapy. However, we all feel the last thing anyone going through cancer should have to worry about is how they are going to pay their medical expenses.

Katie is loved by so many; she has been of service to others over the years, been the cheerleader or defender depending on what is needed at the time and has been an amazing friend. We wanted to reach out to family & friends who may want to support her and show their love so she can focus on her recovery.

Thank you in advance to each of you for any contributions you can make. It will all go a long way to help make this journey lighter. If you are not able to contribute at this time, that’s okay- would you please consider sharing?

Thank you! Tami, Keri and Jenn