Hello and welcome to our little nook on the world wide web!
The purpose of this campaign is to raise money to support Allie and her family in the coming months as she courageously kicks breast cancer's ass. The goal amount to raise for Allie and her family is $1,500. This amount will allow childcare for Allie's youngest child and provide for food and bills. Having this peace of mind that your family is safe and cared for allows for you to fully focus all of your energy on strengthening and healing.
In the event we exceed the amount of donations needed for Allie and her family, Allie has requested that all excess funds raised be donated to BCRF, Breast Cancer Research Foundation. They can be visited at www.bcrf.org.
Allie's husband wrote the below message to better explain Allie and her story. We hope you take the time to read and that you get your (awesome) Wonder Woman Breast Cancer Awareness shirt! And be sure to share our campaign with your family and friends as well!
Together, we can make a difference. For Allie, and for the world of breast cancer research!
Much Love,
Allie's friend, Elise.
Hello everyone,
First, I want to thank you all for taking the time to read our story. And secondly, the money goal is not important. I do not have a set amount that would help but anything would help. The goal for this page is to allow us the option to put our youngest daughter, Kinslie, into daycare for a couple weeks while she can recover as she is a stay at home mom. She’s been instructed once surgery is complete that she cannot do any lifting for 2-4 weeks. So for that time she will not be able to care for our daughter while I am at work for those hours. We aren’t setup financially to incur anymore expenses for daycare either. And taking a few weeks off from work is not an option for us. So daycare is our hope.
My wife, Alexandra, has been tested for genes linked to cancer using a blood panel called “BRCA” and it tests a total of 17 genes in the blood. Those genes are:
ATM, BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, BRIP1, CDH1, CHEK2, MRE11A, MUTYH, NBN, NF1, PALB2, PTEN, RAD50, RAD51C, RAD51D and TP53.
A little (long) backstory, in 2015 while Allie and I were dating she had felt a lump In her breast and also under her right arm (lymph node). She was scared by the fact that she was approaching the same age that her Mother was when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
So she set an appointment to get checked out and later found out the node was Benign but was given a result of pre-cancerous cells existing there. Then was given instructions to come back every 6 months for examination to see if those cells were progressing or not.
Being scared and a little hard headed she clamed up and didn’t do any of those 6 month examinations. Now 3 years later after having another baby girl she had started to feel extremely unsettled about those results and scared to go back. She was also feeling very sick at times and couldn’t explain why so she thought maybe those cells had taken a turn for the worst. So in early July she had that blood panel run and a biopsy on the lymph node under her right arm.
After a few weeks of anticipation the results on the biopsy came back benign. Awesome news! But, the doctor failed to post the results from the blood panel and made her come back in the office for the results and consultation. She was told that she has tested positive for what is called the “CHEK2 c.1263deIT” gene.
“The CHEK2 gene provides instructions for making a protein called checkpoint kinase 2 (CHK2). This protein acts as a tumor suppressor, which means that it regulates cell division by keeping cells from growing and dividing too rapidly or in an uncontrolled way.” - Genetics Home Reference.
She was then told that her current Risk assessment was “up to 2 fold increased risk of breast and colon cancer”. On top of Allie’s mother having had breast cancer and numerous other family members being diagnosed and treated for various types of cancer that also raises her risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, ect.
After consulting with the oncologist, breast surgeon, various support groups for this specific gene, and with herself they’ve decided to go with the mastectomy as a preventative measure. Due to this gene many say that “it isn’t IF you get cancer but WHEN.”
This is a huge decision for her and it is an extremely painful recovery according to the support groups she’s been in contact with.
Again, I really appreciate you reading my wife’s story and if you decide to donate that is great and if not that is great also. As a man/father it’s difficult to ask for help and I find it difficult down to the last letter I type. We are providers, and as such I feel I should be more setup for something like this. But times like this never come at times convenient for us.
Sincerely,
Adam Winters
