Two babies and incurable stage 4 breast cancer

It's with a sad & heavy heart I have to write this but my beautiful friend has now been diagnosed with Stage 4 triple negative breast cancer after her gruelling battle of treatment over the last 18 months. She was originally diagnosed 18 months ago with Stage 3, triple negative breast cancer whilst heavily pregnant at 35 weeks.

She recently found a lump in her pec muscle which quickly spread to her chest wall & painful skin cancer, which she has to be on expensive & heavy doses of pain killers. Unfortunately recent scans have shown that this cancer has now spread to her neck, hip & back.

Val's baby needed to be induced early so that Valerie could start chemotherapy two weeks after giving birth. Although being born underweight, her son is now doing well but taking care of a baby whilst going through 18 months of intense chemotherapy treatment, surgery, and radiation has been extremely stressful and has taken a huge emotional, physical and financial toll on her family.

Valerie also has an active three year old daughter who she is trying to provide care for whilst being sick with chemotherapy drugs, and cancer that has spread to her skin and now bones. She is on pain killers for intense, ongoing pain. Valerie received the devastating news today that is every mother's worst nightmare. What she is going through is unimaginable.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer is a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer that makes up 10-15 percent of breast cancers and unable to be treated with the standard regime of breast cancer drugs. Therefore treatment options were limited and survival rates are very low unless found early.

Valerie has no family history of breast cancer or cancer in her family therefore she was led to believe it was a cyst or a blocked milk duct a few months before the initial diagnosis, as she was still breast feeding her daughter until a obstetrician recommended to have her lump further investigated. When her biopsy results came back it revealed to be an aggressive and life-threatening cancer. What was meant to be an exciting time, awaiting the arrival of her baby boy, turned into the biggest challenge of her life and a time of fear and major uncertainty.

Val ran her own small successful business, however she had to stop work completely. This has caused there to be financial strain on her family and Val's hope now lies in supportive treatment to prolong her life. This is costly, but she needs to try and ensure she gets as long as possible with her one-year-old son and three-year-old daughter.

Val's only wish is to be able to survive cancer and watch her beautiful babies grow up. She has always been such a hard worker and independent. This family now need support. If you can find it within your heart to donate something (no matter how small), it would make a world of difference to this young family.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Leanne Munchan x