Help Support Staci Hotujec in her Cancer Journey

Staci's journey started back in August 2018 when she had a large mole on her leg removed and it came back positive for Melanoma. In September we learned that she has a particularly aggressive type of Melanoma and the diagnosis was Stage 2C. Staci had surgery to remove the tissue around where her mole had been removed, which left her with a hole in her leg about the size of a hockey puck, the surgeon also removed a lymph node in her groin to see if the cancer had spread. The lymph node came back positive for Melanoma, which means the cancer had spread up to the lymph nodes in her groin. This now put her diagnosis at Stage 3C.

In October Staci had another surgery to remove the rest of the lymph nodes in her groin, those were all tested and the cancer spread to three out of nine lymph nodes. At this point Staci was 20 weeks pregnant with Boone, and Staci and her husband were presented with three different options to treat the cancer moving forward; terminate the pregnancy and begin treatment immediately, wait to start any treatment until after Staci had the baby between 32-34 weeks, or start a form of treatment that has been used for decades and is mostly safe with pregnancy but will make Staci feel really crummy and it isn’t very effective. With these options Staci's Oncologist recommended they get a second opinion from a doctor/professor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago who specializes in Melanoma. So they made the trip to Chicago and after talking with him, they decided to wait on any treatment and have the baby early. After this Staci had one more surgery to have a skin graft over the area where the mole and tissue was removed from her leg.

After healing from the last surgery it was almost like life was getting back to normal. Staci was able to go back to work and even start driving after not being able to for over three months. There still was a chance that the Melanoma could spread to the baby through the placenta, so they had to make sure to get that tested after she gave birth. Fast forward to this year, Staci was induced on January 30 and gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby Boone on February 1st! He was in the NICU for two weeks until he figured out how to take all of his bottles, the placenta came back negative for Melanoma so it did not spread to Boone (which was a huge relief).

On February 5th, Staci had another PET/CT Scan to get a baseline of the cancer in her body. The next day we learned the worst news, in the last few months the cancer spread into the bones in her back, lungs, liver, and spleen. This brought the diagnosis to Stage 4, which means the cancer in her body is no longer curable, it will always be with her. The last couple months have really taken a toll on Staci emotionally and physically. Her entire abdominal area is swollen and very painful, it is hard to eat because of her enlarged organs pushing on her stomach, she's weak and gets short of breath when walking small distances, and her back is starting to hurt.

Staci is receiving treatments every three weeks for about three to four hours at a time.  When/if this medicine is no longer working, then she will switch to a different type of treatment.  We are hoping that the medicine starts working quickly and shrinks the cancer spots.  

Staci has not been able to work and any funds raised here will help to cover expenses including  insurance deductible / co-insurance, fuel costs to/from the hospital and appointments, non-covered medical expenses, nourishing meals, and everyday needs beyond the coverage of medical insurance.  Your support here will help ease the financial burden on this family.  Staci is a daughter, a wife, a sister, and a friend to many.  Let's join together and support her in this fight!