Shaan's Breast Cancer Fund
Donation protected
On October 30, 2013 our family grew by one sweet little girl, Lily. Our family was on cloud 9 and everything was right in our little world. However, our cloud 9 status was short lived. While most mom's are busy taking care of a newborn and enjoying all of the sweet cuddles they have to offer, I was preparing for my first battle with cancer.
During my pregnancy, a knot on my right breast started to enlarge. I dismissed it as pregnancy related and continued enjoying the thoughts of our family expanding. After giving birth to Lily the knot did not disappear, and I decided to get a second opinion on what I was originally told was a cyst. On January 2, 2014 our world turned upside down, I had cancer. I was informed I had stage 3 breast cancer. It had already metastasized into my mammary nodes and was continuing to grow at an aggressive rate. A million questions ran through my head, but in the end I knew everything was going to be ok. I had God by my side.
At that point everyone encouraged me to create one of these sites, but I thought we could handle the financial burden alone. Someone had mentioned to me that cancer takes one year of your life. Surely with our savings we could last one year. No need to bring the public in on our personal matter. That one year ended nine months ago. What was supposed to be twelve months has turned into twenty-one months. Although the end is in sight, it is still months away. Which may lead into a third insurance premium cycle.
I went through six rounds of chemotherapy, eighteen rounds of Herceptin, a double mastectomy, thirty-four rounds of radiation, physical therapy and three rounds of fat grafting. I just recently had my tissue expanders put into place, and during my follow up visit was told I will need to start physical therapy again due to a compressed nerve that occurred during surgery. I was also informed that we will need to take this expanding process slower than originally anticipated due to this complication. Therefore, prolonging this journey.
At the time Lily was born I was not working, but had plans of returning to work once I was cleared to do so. We had savings put back to help cover our cost of living while I looked for employment after Lily arrived. But once I received my diagnosis, everything was put on hold except our monthly expenses. Then came the medical bills and what seems to be a never ending cycle of them. We stayed positive thinking it was only going to be one year, we can make it. But here we are, twenty-one months out and that year has come and gone. Somehow, with the help of family and God we have managed to make it this far with little financial help from others to cover monthly expense. I am working about ten hours a week, but that doesn't add up to much. I still have several appointments monthly which prevents me from being able to return to work full-time. My most recent surgery has a three week recovery period. This is just one of my six surgeries I've had in the past twenty-one months, and there are still more to follow. I also still battle with side effects from last year such as chronic fatigue and brain fog which have had the most impact on being able to seek employment.
I have seen gofundme do amazing things for other people who are in similar positions as myself and my family. It is my hope that it will help my family keep its head above water while we finish out this journey. I have gone back and forth several times about creating this site, only because I am not one who often asks for help, and my family is typically very private with our personal business. However, with the current status of an unknown end date for surgeries I have decided its time to do what little I can to help my family out financially. And that was to finally ask for help. Having cancer has been a very humbling experience. It has put me in positions I never thought I would be in, and it has also taught me it is okay to ask for help. With that being said, any and all donations are greatly appreciated, and even if you are not in the position to help financially, I would ask that you at least share my link.
Thank you and God bless,
The Hawkins Family
During my pregnancy, a knot on my right breast started to enlarge. I dismissed it as pregnancy related and continued enjoying the thoughts of our family expanding. After giving birth to Lily the knot did not disappear, and I decided to get a second opinion on what I was originally told was a cyst. On January 2, 2014 our world turned upside down, I had cancer. I was informed I had stage 3 breast cancer. It had already metastasized into my mammary nodes and was continuing to grow at an aggressive rate. A million questions ran through my head, but in the end I knew everything was going to be ok. I had God by my side.
At that point everyone encouraged me to create one of these sites, but I thought we could handle the financial burden alone. Someone had mentioned to me that cancer takes one year of your life. Surely with our savings we could last one year. No need to bring the public in on our personal matter. That one year ended nine months ago. What was supposed to be twelve months has turned into twenty-one months. Although the end is in sight, it is still months away. Which may lead into a third insurance premium cycle.
I went through six rounds of chemotherapy, eighteen rounds of Herceptin, a double mastectomy, thirty-four rounds of radiation, physical therapy and three rounds of fat grafting. I just recently had my tissue expanders put into place, and during my follow up visit was told I will need to start physical therapy again due to a compressed nerve that occurred during surgery. I was also informed that we will need to take this expanding process slower than originally anticipated due to this complication. Therefore, prolonging this journey.
At the time Lily was born I was not working, but had plans of returning to work once I was cleared to do so. We had savings put back to help cover our cost of living while I looked for employment after Lily arrived. But once I received my diagnosis, everything was put on hold except our monthly expenses. Then came the medical bills and what seems to be a never ending cycle of them. We stayed positive thinking it was only going to be one year, we can make it. But here we are, twenty-one months out and that year has come and gone. Somehow, with the help of family and God we have managed to make it this far with little financial help from others to cover monthly expense. I am working about ten hours a week, but that doesn't add up to much. I still have several appointments monthly which prevents me from being able to return to work full-time. My most recent surgery has a three week recovery period. This is just one of my six surgeries I've had in the past twenty-one months, and there are still more to follow. I also still battle with side effects from last year such as chronic fatigue and brain fog which have had the most impact on being able to seek employment.
I have seen gofundme do amazing things for other people who are in similar positions as myself and my family. It is my hope that it will help my family keep its head above water while we finish out this journey. I have gone back and forth several times about creating this site, only because I am not one who often asks for help, and my family is typically very private with our personal business. However, with the current status of an unknown end date for surgeries I have decided its time to do what little I can to help my family out financially. And that was to finally ask for help. Having cancer has been a very humbling experience. It has put me in positions I never thought I would be in, and it has also taught me it is okay to ask for help. With that being said, any and all donations are greatly appreciated, and even if you are not in the position to help financially, I would ask that you at least share my link.
Thank you and God bless,
The Hawkins Family
Organizer
Shaan Hawkins
Organizer
Woodstock, GA