Mandy Garavaglia

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On January 17 , I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. On February 1 it was staged at 1c1 grade 3. I am currently being treated at ku Med with Dr. Julia Chapman. I will be updating this as much as possible but treatment will start February 15. They are suggesting 6 rounds of chemo 3 weeks apart.

Our world has been rocked. We are scared but so hopeful. I feel so blessed to have my amazing husband who has been my rock, our beautiful baby girl, and an amazing community of friends and family who have surrounded us with so much love.

Here is a little background on my health. In the years prior to this we struggled to get pregnant with our daughter. We went through fertility treatments for many years. We were so lucky and blessed when ivf worked and we had our perfect baby girl. 2 years later we wanted to try to use a frozen embryo and during the phases of that they found that I had uterine polyps. They removed those and in July of 2015, I was diagnosed with very early stage uterine cancer. This was also an extremely scary time but our oncologist was confident I could hold on to my uterus to try to have another baby.. but eventually would need a laparoscopic hysterectomy to remove my uterus. Well fast forward 2 years (no success with pregnancy) we had a hysterectomy planned. It was supposed to be easy and laparoscopic. Well, at my preop apt for this planned “easy”

Surgery they found a large cyst on my right ovary. About the size of a softball to be exact. The doctor seemed concerned but also told me all scenarios that could be possible. Best case was it was just a cyst and worst was the obvious. They had to do a large vertical incision from the top of my pelvis to the bottom of my breast bone. To say that day was traumatizing is an understatement.

I woke from surgery begging to see Johnny , and the moment I saw him I knew. To see the person you love the most in this world have to deliver this news broke my heart. Recovery from surgery has not been easy but I am extremely motivated to be healthy. I am a bit of an over achiever and tend to push myself most days. But thankfully with the love of this community, friends and family .. we have been so well fed! I am so thankful. This is just a bump in the road.. it sucks but this is not my story. When faced with hard times you have two choices. You fall down and feel sorry for yourself or you fight. You hold the hands of those you love and you fight.


We've gotten a lot of questions of how you can help  -please visit the "Ways to Help" icon on this page - you'll be directed to a "Planner" link for snack delivery sign up and another option that points you to their GoFundMe page. 



A close friend is monitoring and helping with this page so if you have any other questions, feel free to call/text 816-885-8577 (Amber)