Jessa fights cancer

Jessa's Caring Bridge site 

Hello family and friends of Jessa!  Thank you so much for being willing to give and help her as she does her best to fight cancer and be there for her children!  Please visit her Caring Bridge site for many more details, and more ways you can help.

Jessa's story:

On Monday, March 2nd, Jessa drove herself to a walk-in clinic after experiencing pain in her lower abdomen for 24 hours.  She thought she had appendicitis, but a CT scan would reveal two tumors (one 4.7x8cm, and another 2cm), along with an abnormal lymph node.  After two weeks of tests, biopsies,  and scans, all trying to figure out the source of the tumors, Jessa has been diagnosed with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, a rare liver bile duct cancer.  Her doctors recommend she start chemo as soon as possible to shrink the tumors, and then they might do a removal operation later on. Two days before chemo was to start another twist in the road happened when her oncologist shared that chemo may not be the best option for treatment because of new information about the genetic make-up of her tumors. This changed her treatment plan to using two different immunotherapy drugs over chemotherapy.  She will also be supplementing immunotherapy  with various other therapies in the hopes of boosting her immune system to fight and prolonging life as long as possible.

Jessa will need every possible medical intervention available to her to walk this hard, long road ahead of her.  But almost as important as the medicines, Jessa needs you.  She needs her friends, her family, her music community, her church, her support...you are such a massive part of how she will be able to really live as she does the hard work of caring for her own body and soul.  Please sign up to follow Jessa's progress on Caring Bridge, and we will do our best to keep you updated on her mental, emotional, and physical health and needs along the way.  

Thank you for being willing to give to the huge financial burden that cancer has placed on Jessa and her family.  Jessa does have good insurance, but due to the rare nature of her cancer, she will need many specialist support treatments that may not be in network.  We estimate that she will need around $4,000 extra each month to make this treatment plan possible (all of the money from this Go Fund Me is dedicated to medical treatment and deductibles).  

That number seems daunting I'm sure, but please don't be overwhelmed.  Jessa has an AWESOME community that loves her and will be there for her.  We simply ask that you consider doing whatever you can, in whatever way you can.  No gift is too small, and Jessa appreciates each one of you so much.  

My name is Lisa, and I am helping Jessa by running all of the online technology needed to help keep family and friends updated on her progress.  Please follow along (especially on Caring Bridge) and reach out to Jessa if you can!  Thank you!

~Lisa, for Jessa .