Hi, I’m Kathryn, I’m a special education teacher here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I’d like to share my best friend Mary’s story. On Friday, March 7th, 2025, at 9:14 in the morning, I received a text message from my best friend, Mary, someone with whom I went to kindergarten with and practically grew up with. On Wednesday February 26th, she went in for a biopsy because she had found a small lump in her breast. I remember my own feelings of worry and dread back in December of 2007 when I had my own biopsy done after finding a lump. In my case, I dodged the proverbial bullet and up until COVID-19, when the government claimed that mammograms were “elective procedures,” I went in every year for a screening. My best friend, found a lump, went in for her screening, on February 26th, they did a biopsy and on March 7th, I stared at my phone screen in utter disbelief at the words that she had texted to me… “Dammit! I have breast cancer….” It took me 32 minutes to wrap my brain around the words that kept replaying across my vision, in my head… (and for me to get a minute between classes that I was teaching to respond), and my typed response was one word… “sh*t.” A week later, more information came in and despite our busy lives, Mary let me know that the results of the HR2 test had come back as triple positive. Triple Dammit!!!
According to the Mayo Clinic, HER2 positive breast cancer means that the cancer cells are aggressive and there is a protein called “human epidermal growth factor receptor 2” or HER2. Every website that I have visited, from the Mayo Clinic to WebMD, indicates that this type of cancer is extremely aggressive, is hormone driven and will recur. Mary and her family are in the fight of their lives, not just for Mary’s health, but financially, emotionally, and physically. She has already begun her treatment, thank goodness. Her husband is super amazing and supportive, but while she battles cancer, he’s taking on her role when she’s feeling sick from the chemo and radiation. He will also be taking leave from work which will put a strain on them financially for a bit. Her daughter is a trooper and a gift! For any child though, seeing that mom does not feel well can be frightening. My hope is to help them out by raising about $500 to get them to a place where they can cover the medical bills, the co-pays, and their day-to-day expenses with the rising prices.
