UPDATED::Travel to Chicago for surgery

Hi everyone! My name is Candice. I’m a wife and a mother of 3. Looking at me you’d never be able to tell that I have a cancer, but unfortunately I do. During the early part of 2022 I was diagnosed with a rare, slow growing tumor called a paraganglioma. These tumors normally begin in the adrenal glands but this one somehow started in my vertebral column. The tumor was huge when it was discovered embedded in my liver. (Pictured below) We don’t know exactly how long it had been there but our guesses are several years. Due to this tumor I’ve suffered from many symptoms: hypertension, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness, anxiety, anemia, abdominal pain, rapid heart beat, weight loss, weight gain….just to name a few. June 2022 the majority of the tumor was removed via open liver surgery. Before the surgery I was informed that the whole tumor may not be removed if any of it was touching my Inferior Vena Cava. Thankfully I had a successful surgery but the whole thing couldn’t be removed because it was indeed touching my IVC. A month or two after the surgery I began to feel much better. By month three I began to notice some of the symptoms from before but they weren’t as bad. I went in for a three month follow up and MRI and found out the piece of tumor that was still on my IVC had began to grow. My surgeon made me an appointment at CARTI to explore treatment options. My case was brought in front of the oncology team and they immediately decided that I needed to be seen by a specialty clinic; that clinic happens to be Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. (I live in Arkansas) Northwestern Medicine is one of the top ten hospitals in the nation. I traveled to Chicago for a consult and they decided that the best option to treat this tumor is surgery. The surgeon will likely have to cut off a piece of the IVC wall to remove the tumor, then repair the artery. My husband and I will have to miss several days of work due to this situation and we need our friends and family’s help financially. Any and all prayers, kind words, and donations are appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

UPDATE

Hi everyone! As some of you know I didn’t get to have the surgery due to the financials but thanks to you guys I was able to make it to a few pre-op appointments. The surgery was scheduled but I couldn’t come up with enough money to go get it done. I thank each and every one of you that donated. I didn’t reach my goal and after that I felt defeated and had accepted the fact that this thing would kill me. I stopped thinking about it, I stopped going to the doctor, I slowly stopped taking my meds, I stopped talking about it. The symptoms were almost non existent and I felt good. I pretty much forgot about it and continued to live my life. All of that came to an end after I lost my dad in January. That was a very hard, painful time in my life. At that moment I knew that I didn’t want my kids to have to feel the pain of losing me and I started to think about the tumor again. In my mind the tumor had gotten soooo big because I was neglecting it and anxiety set in. I started to worry a lot. I was so scared that it had grown but I was also scared to go to the doctor and hear him say it. February went by, March went by, April went by, and May went by…no doctor’s appointment. In June I started to notice a few symptoms again and finally made an appointment. As I was sitting, waiting on the doctor I cried and cried because I was so anxious and scared to talk to him. We talked, he put me at ease, and scheduled me an MRI. I got it done and had to play the waiting game. After about a week I visited the doctor for the results and the tumor had only grown about a millimeter since last February. I felt so relieved. The tumor has not grown much but surgery is still the best option to get rid of it. I explained to the doctor that I couldn’t afford to “move” to Chicago for surgery (I’d have to be there for at least a month after the procedure ). He told me that it would be best if I could go there and that he’d take my case in front of the board again. He met with the board and I now have a consult with a surgeon in my home state. I’ll post an update after that appointment.