Our dear friend Lucia Vandenhof has been battling stage 3 triple negative highly invasive breast cancer. On March 25th she had a double mastectomy and they put in expanders to create an optimal situation for reconstructive surgery after she undergoes 16 rounds of chemo and 4 rounds of radiation. Unfortunately, she had to go back under the knife on May 2nd as her body ultimately rejected the expanders. 

Despite having the best health insurance money can buy, the insurance company is not covering many of her treatments and tests. One example is them rejecting her genetic testing to find out if she was a BRCA gene carrier which is crucial in determining the best treatment plan…but insurance denied it saying it wasn’t medically necessary. And it looks like the appeal will be denied. 

It is bad enough that she has to quit her job to recover and start a very intense chemo schedule, now she and her family are being hit with astronomical medical bills. 

As her friends, we have decided to start a fundraiser to help ease the financial burden on her family which will in turn help decrease the tremendous stress all of this is causing which is the worst thing for her recovery. 

Times are tough for everyone right now. Even simply taking the time to read this is a blessing. Prayers and sharing this post is also very helpful. Getting the word out is as crucial as finances and prayers. Be kind to one another and please hug your loved ones. Tomorrow is not promised. ❤️

Lucia will be losing her hair and will be donating it when she cuts it short to be able to help another cancer survivor. She starts chemo next month. If you can't afford to donate, please share a prayer or well wishes.