Support The Newton Family's Fight Against Cancer

We are raising money for the Newton family during these unimaginable times. On May 19th Austin and Breauna's world was completely rocked when they got the news that there was a baseball sized tumor in Austin's chest and it was probably cancer. May 29th they found out Austin has Stage 2 Hodgkins lymphoma and will have to undergo chemo every 2 weeks for 6 months. The Newtons are in need of our help to make it through these tough times. Their faith is stronger than ever, and they know God will continue to lead them through this storm. Austin and Breauna also have two young daughters in the midst of all of this and he is the sole provider for their family. Austin is an US Army veteran who needs our help. Any support is greatly appreciated as they do not know what work is going to look like now for Austin as well as what insurance will pay for his treatment.

From Breauna:

When you hear stories about someone else’s life flipping upside down you never think it would happen to you. Or maybe you do but you don’t realize that it can happen at literally any second during a normal day of your life.

May 19th was just like any regular weekend day in our family. We have had a long list of chores we’ve been trying to get done for a while and we were doing just that. Nothing crazy, nothing exerting either. Austin was outside raking the backyard when he started to get lightheaded and decided to come in. One look at him and I knew something was wrong. His face was as white as a ghost and his eyes looked sunk in and red. He kept telling me something just didn’t feel right. I had him drink some water and sit down while I monitored his vitals. At this point he has started trembling and complaining that he was freezing and having chest pain. His hands were turning purple and his heart rate was staying between 120-160 resting. We decided it was probably best to call 911 and get an EKG to make sure he wasn’t actively having a heart attack. While on the phone with dispatch, his heart would jump to 150bpm then crash to 60bpm within one second. We don’t know how long it took for paramedics to arrive but it felt like forever. Once they evaluated him, we collectively decided it would be best for him to go to the closest hospital via ambulance due to his history of having undiagnosed weird things happen with his heart (irregular heart beats and racing heart while at rest). In the ambulance they gave him fluids because EMS (who arrived at the end of the paramedics deciding for him to go) thought he was just dehydrated. At one point Austin’s Bp was 180/120 his heart rate got up to 191 and he lost all vision and could only see white. Upon arriving to the hospital they stuck him in the waiting room for 2.5 hours before ever evaluating him. If you know anything about current health care systems… this wasn’t because he was fine but simply due to being understaffed and having high patient populations.

We finally got back into a room where they rushed a bunch of tests (labs, chest xray and a head ct). The doctor explained he wanted a head ct to rule out a brain tumor which seemed odd to us since he was in there for heart problems. Less than 10 minutes after having the chest xray completed the doctor came in and gave us the most unexpected poorly delivered news. There is a “very large mass in his chest that we need to do a chest CT on to take a better look”. I instantly asked where and was met with the response of by his heart. The next 30-45 minutes together in the ER quite literally felt like the world was moving quickly around us but we were in a stand still. We left the ER that night with a referral to an Oncologist and a Cardiologist. Talk about a whirlwind.

May 20th we received a phone call from the oncologists office wanting to see him in a couple hours for an appointment. We went in and the doc explained that this very large mass was about the size of a baseball and was wrapped around his aorta and most likely wouldn’t be operable. We had a plan to get multiple tests done so we would know exactly what the mass was. Between the ER doc and the oncologist we had heard the terms lymphoma, testicular cancer (that starts in the chest), thalamus cancer, or “maybe something non cancerous but that’s rare”. The oncologist sent us on our way for blood draws, an echocardiogram, PET scan and biopsy to all take place STAT.

I’ll spare you the daily details of that week but it was the toughest week of our lives. We had no idea what this huge mass was or what we were up against but at 27 & 28 years old with two little ones this was the last thing we had ever imagined for our lives. Many people around us covered us in so much prayer and took turns praying over time slots that we were in the hospital, and he was having these tests done which we truly wouldn’t have gotten through without our faith and all the prayers. The biggest hurdle of it all for Austin was the biopsy considering he loathes doctors and is scared of needles. The last of these tests conducted was the pet scan and biopsy on May 23rd. We were going into a Holiday weekend and didn’t expect to hear any results for a week until we went in to the oncologist's office for a follow up appointment. In between the chaos of all these appointments and tests we were on our knees in prayer begging God for a miracle. Begging God to keep Austin around long enough to raise our girls, to heal him, to let this mass be the only one in his body, if it was cancer then let it be something treatable that he can live a long life with. Bargaining with God if he just answered these prayers, we would spread the word of God and tell others this story, tell others how good God is, be more involved at church, please God just don’t take Austin yet.

May 29th Austin received a phone call from the oncologist stating he had the results in front of him. He diagnosed Austin with Stage 2 Hodgkins Lymphoma. Praise God! only stage 2. The cancer has NOT spread anywhere else. Praise God! This cancer has a 90% survival rate. Praise God! Chemotherapy will either shrink it or get rid of the tumor completely. Praise God! Friday, we go in for what they call a “chemo teach” appointment to go over the next steps for chemo. We may seek a second opinion as well to ensure Austin is receiving the best care possible.

The diagnosis came with a breath of fresh air and many answered prayers which almost feels weird to say considering it is in fact cancer. Austin is the strongest man I know and as we tell our kids “I am strong, I am brave, with God I can do anything”. We know with God by our side we can get through this together one day and one step at a time