Team Van - 2017

Hi, I'm Van, and I'm trying to get past/over/through breast cancer.   I was diagnosed in December 2016 and have had a mastectomy with the removal of 26 lymph nodes. I've just started chemotherapy. When this is complete, I will probably also have my thyroid removed, as cancer has  been found there as well. Bonus cancer!  Then it will be time for reconstruction. If I'm lucky I can finish it all by the end of 2017, but the doctors think I'm overly optimistic. I'm fine with them having that view of me. I'll admit to optimism.

I want to live. I mean really live, like get past this and be healthier than before. I'm a mom of two amazing kids and I'm fully intending to properly raise them into amazing adults. 

Life is now the strangest mix of desperately trying to let myself feel joy in every possible moment, being ever diligent about my food and supplements, my doctor’s appointments, treatments, meditation and exercise, and trying to provide my family with the care and love that they need and deserve. I just keep thinking that I want more more more. More of everything. More of this exact life. I don’t think anymore about what I might have done differently. I would take more of exactly this forever.


How your funds will help us:

Medical bills - we're paying for inital diagnosis, second and third opinions, long distance naturopath oncologists, and now we'll be adding to that debt rapidly with the surgeries, new scans and treatments.

Integrative Therapies - Acupuncture, Therapist, Vitamin C IV, Supplements, Oxygen, Massage, Etc- this has been adding up to 3-400 hundred dollars a week, and sometimes I skip things that I shouldn't due to cost.

Childcare - We pre-paid for summer camp for the entire summer knowing that it would be easier for us and more fun for the kids than staring at my sick self all day. Sometimes, though, when James is working while kids are home, I need help. Sitter rates are $15/hr

Housecleaning - $100/week

Every little bit you can offer is a major help to our family. We put a lot of thought into starting a fund like this. You go through life thinking you are covered by insurance, and you have some savings or could tap into your HELOC. Then something major happens, you go through all of those resources, and you start skimping on things you are told will make a big difference in your recovery. We really hoped we could keep up and didn't want to reach out, but we've hit a wall. 


Thank you so much for all of your support, good vibes, amazing gifts, kind gestures and prayers, Special thanks to my friend Jacqueline. She put this campaign together at a very busy time in her own life. I just couldn't appreciate her more. (She did not write that herself! I am making final edits.)   :)

All my love,
Van