Support Tylee's Battle Against Rhabdomyosarcoma

Dear friends, family, and strangers…

My baby sister Tylee, known in our family affectionately as Ty or Tyty, has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma (cancer of the soft tissues) at diagnosis they categorized her at Stage 3.

This type of cancer is typically seen in small children but can be found in adults as well. Sarcoma diagnoses make up 1% of cancer diagnosis in the U.S. every year. 3% of those are Rhabdomyosarcoma diagnoses.

In October 2024, we were given the news that Tylee does in fact have to fight this fight. The tumor is growing at the base of her skull and at the start of treatment the mass was 6 centimeters. Her current treatment plan is weekly chemotherapy for the next year and a half, with most likely intermittent radiation and possible surgery at any point depending on the success of the chemotherapy and radiation. She will have to endure 42 rounds of chemo no matter what.

Tylee and her husband Andrew have been together since they were in high school and over the past three years they have endured more than their share of tragedies.. They were very excited to become parents and sadly lost their beautiful daughter Lennoa at 21 weeks of pregnancy after a premature rupture of embryonic fluid. This late term stillbirth devastated them and our entire family. They were blessed a year ago to give birth to their second daughter, beautiful baby girl Luella Love. Upon the Cancer diagnosis Tylee and Andrew had to quickly decide if they wanted to have more children and go through the process of egg/embryo freezing. The chemotherapy would result in a nearly impossible chance of having viable eggs for future children. They chose to try in a quick 3 week process over Christmas and now have the chance once she is cancer free. This was not covered by insurance.

At this point in Tylee's chemotherapy she is working from home full time while caring for Luella, with help from family as needed. Andrew works full time for the City of Yuma. We are all hopeful she can continue to work at least intermittently which provides her such reward as well as income to continue to cover living expenses. Focusing on the routine's of life that bring joy helps to not focus on the mounting hospital bills. These bills include annual deductible and max out of pocket costs starting with and including the loss of Lennoa. With this Cancer diagnosis and course of treatment they will be running into 3 to 4 insurance years which carry with it deductible and max out of pocket annually. The annual cost is anywhere from $15,000 to $23,000 per year. They are also paying out of network for treatment and the Team at UCSD. UCSD has been able to coordinate care with the Yuma Cancer Center and now Tylee is able to get her chemotherapy weekly treatments in Yuma which has helped so much with the time and exhaustion experienced traveling weekly to San Diego. There will still be trips to SD for tests and radiation or surgery if needed.

Tylee is the strongest, most loving, funniest person you will ever meet and that I know. She always has a smile on her face even during the darkest times. She has shown incredible strength, bravery, and grace, throughout this entire process and life's circumstances leading up to this diagnosis. She somehow puts on a happy face and cares for her daughter and everyone around her while working a demanding job despite the awful side effects the chemo is putting her through. Tylee is my baby sister but she’s also my hero. She is all that is love and light for all to see.

Please consider making a donation to help ease the stress of the mounting medical bills and the uncertainty of what the future needs might be. All donations will go directly to Tylee for her medical bills to help ease the financial toll this is taking on her and our family. Any donation is helpful and it means everything to us. If you aren’t able to contribute financially please repost, repost, repost! Send this to someone who might be willing and able to help.

Please help us care for her in her time of need. Prayers, intentional thoughts, loving vibes, send it all our way. I will post updates as her situation progresses. Thank you ❤️