Amanda’s Fight Against Cancer

Amanda’s thank you video: 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0VTRWYC8hB7pvxyyUeC2384YvQUdDmQavAiuYYyJsHCsXELDr6vfKVPuNG3wGYh4ml&id=100012216067040&mibextid=HSR2mg

My name is Brittany Hurem and I created this fundraiser in support of my beautiful sister Amanda Stewart and her daughter Nyla as Amanda continues her fight against what is now considered Stage 4 Cancer. In order to make her and Nyla’s life as comfortable and normal as possible while Amanda not only undergoes more treatment (including holistic options) this second time around, but also seeks out potentially life-saving options elsewhere, we ask for your help.

The above introduction shares the main reason for our ask, but if you’d like more information about Amanda’s Story, please continue reading. For all updates, please scroll to the bottom. 

You may know me, you may know my sister, or maybe one of our other 3 siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, stepparents, or any one of her loving family and friends who shared this cause. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to click the link and read Amanda’s Story.

Just over a year ago now on November 8th 2022 - after 10+ months of seeking medical support for concerning symptoms and often being dismissed - we received the unthinkable news that Amanda was suffering from Cervical Cancer. After much back and forth regarding staging, size and treatment, she was considered Stage 2 and although her tumour was unfortunately too big for surgery at the point of her diagnosis, it was determined that 7 weeks of radiation, chemotherapy, ending with an invasive radiation called brachytherapy made for a very hopeful shot at the very least shrinking her 6cm tumour enough for surgery.

Through it all Amanda has always remained so hopeful and confident that she could beat this thing, if not for herself but for her young daughter Nyla. 

After her first round of treatment ended in March 2023, Amanda wanted to go on to live as normal a life as possible as she awaited checkups and scans to review the outcome of her treatment. There was light for a long time - her tumour was almost impossible to see in her first scans and we felt blessed with hope for her health and future.

However, in July a nodule was found in her lung and after some frustrating waits to determine what this nodule meant, on October 19th we found out it had doubled in size. Since then she has been given the heartbreaking news that this nodule is in fact mestaticized from the original location, and that her cancer has in fact returned to the original location as well, among other things.

Hopes for surgery have again been thrown out and Amanda’s cancer has now been deemed Stage 4, Chronic and Terminal.

Amanda is now facing a life expectancy of 2-3 years if she agrees to a very aggressive course of treatment - less if she decides on a milder course to preserve her quality of life. At just 28 years of age, with a 6 year old daughter to think about, it is hard to accept.

So, we plea for help.

With things already very tight as a single mother and no time to plan for this, Amanda and Nyla’s day to day is now a considerable stretch to afford. We have and will continue to support Amanda as her family, but we want to make them both as comfortable and stress-free in this as possible so we now have no choice but to ask for outside help from anybody who can. We know it’s tough times for so many and even just sharing this will go such a long way.

Furthermore, as her family we plan to do every single thing we can to help Amanda not only overcome this statistic but be a miracle of it. She has sought out a referral to another hospital, alternative treatments (that cost out of pocket) and we are also considering unique treatment opportunities elsewhere. 

As any family would want for their sick loved one, we strive to give our sweet Amanda the chance she deserves. If you have anything to spare we appreciate it to the utmost.

Thank you for reading this far. I will use this space to provide updates as we receive them.

With love and gratitude,

Brittany and Amanda’s Army xx

Goal Hitting Update: 

When I picked $25,000 as a goal I wasn’t sure we’d hit that, let alone surpass it in just 5 days. I said it before but I’ll say it again: this really goes to show how loved Amanda Stewart is. It’s incredibly hard to ask for help and often even harder to offer it so I truly can’t thank everybody who shared, donated and messaged well wishes and resources over the past 5 days enough. I know this has brightened Amanda’s spirit and realizing how much support she has behind her, I know it’s renewed her gusto for this fight. She is not a statistic. We will stop at nothing. It’s a long road. I won’t adjust the goal because we are all so grateful to have even gotten where we are let alone ask for more support. But if you do have it in your heart to keep Amanda in mind, we will continue accepting donations as we work toward raising the appropriate funds as a family to consider external treatment options.

 With so much love and eternal gratitude, 

 Amanda’s Army xx