Hi friends and family, thank you for visiting our site. This is Frank, but Debbie will likely post updates in the future also. As you may or may not know, Debbie has been diagnosed with breast cancer. On Thursday, February 22 Debbie had a mammogram because she had found a lump in her left breast - actually her armpit. They found two relatively small masses in the breast, but the lymph nodes in her armpit were quite swollen. They suspected cancer and prepared her for it then.
The next day they biopsied all three, which all came back positive for invasive ductile carcinoma. The following Tuesday, 2/27, we met with Debbie's surgeon, Dr. Richardson, who explained that the cancer is Stage 3 and appears to be pretty aggressive, so we need to treat it aggressively. However, we did not have all of the pathology reports until the next day, which came back as bad news. Debbie's cancer is "triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which means it will not respond to newer, targeted hormonal chemo treatments, so will be a little more challenging.
Friday, 3/2, we met with Debbie's oncologist, Dr. Gourley, who explained they will attack this with two rounds of chemotherapy (5 months), starting within a few weeks, followed by a mastectomy, followed by radiation. So this initial round of treatment will take us into late fall. Your support and encouragement will be crucial.
Finally, Debbie has an appointment on Wednesday, 3/7, to get a bone scan and other scans to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of her body. We expect results by Friday, 3/9, and are in full prayer mode that these all come back negative.
Thank you VERY much for caring for us and partnering with us in this battle. We firmly believe that our God loves us and can do anything and that includes healing Debbie. Please pray that the scans come back negative, that the doctors give her the right mixture of chemo, that it kills the cancer, and that Debbie does not get sick. Also, please pray for the Lord to give Debbie peace, comfort, faith, and strength to battle. I will say that Debbie is amazing. Despite her fears and concerns, Debbie has remained remarkably strong over this last week. We have a tremendously supportive family and fabulous friends. Thank you!
Please share this with whomever you feel is appropriate. The more prayers the better. We'll post as we know more.
My beautiful wife went to live in paradise with the Jesus Monday night (4/15) just before midnight. We had been referring to her passing as Graduation Day, as she has completed this temporary life and graduated to her eternal home. Right now I am confident she is pain-free for the first time in a very long time, experiencing unimaginable love, and worshiping the Lord alongside her mom, dad, Andrea's mom Jamie, and so many others...
418 days from initial diagnosis to yesterday. Unbelievable. We've had so many emotions in that span. Probably most of them, culminating in an intimate peaceful time of immediate family with Debbie at the end. Within those 418 days the outpouring of kindness and love from friends, family (and some we had never met!) has been vast and extremely humbling - especially to Debbie. Thank you all very much.
There will be a memorial service but we have not worked out details yet. I will share them here soon.
Thank you again for loving on and caring about Debbie.
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