Marsha’s Story

Site created on June 30, 2022

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Marsha was officially diagnosed with breast cancer on June 3, 2022. The type of her particular cancer is Triple Negative Breast Cancer. This simply means that it started in her milk ducts, spread to her breast tissue, and then spread outside of the breast tissue and into her axillary lymph nodes under her armpit. She found a lump in her armpit while on a girl’s trip in Florida but didn’t think much of it. About a month later, she noticed a lump in her breast over the Memorial Day weekend. She went in for a mammogram on that Tuesday, had a biopsy on Wednesday which came back as metastatic invasive ductal carcinoma in both the breast and the lymph nodes. She then had a PET scan Thursday that also showed a spot on her lung that led her to a diagnosis of Stage 4 metastatic cancer with grade 3 tumors. This gave her a prognosis of a 22% 5 year survival rate. Because of her age, her oncologist was willing to fight with her. They agreed to do a biopsy of the spot on her lung so they could assess how to best fight this. The biopsy of the spot on her lung came back as NOT being cancerous and was diagnosed definitively as something else that is benign. She has had a complete abdominal and breast MRI and has not had any other signs of the cancer spreading to other parts of her body. This brought her staging back to a stage 3b. 

Marsha started her 20 weeks of chemo on June 21 and is currently in her 3rd week of treatment.  Occasional nausea, fatigue and dizziness are her only things she has mentioned as a side effects so far; however, her white blood cell counts are very low. These need to stay high enough so that she does not miss any of her treatments.  She has been staying active and using her alternative supports to keep the side effects to a minimum. Once her 20-week treatment schedule is fulfilled, they will reassess and move to either more chemo, radiation or surgery based on the success of these first 20 weeks.

God is part of Marsha's plan and has been since the beginning. From finding the lump to getting the best possible doctors, and having an army of friends surrounding her with prayer and support, He has been blessing her in the midst of chaos and storm. She has been very touched by everyone who has reached out with food, phone calls, etc.  Many of you have asked how you can help, so a group of her friends have come together to make a plan.  The most needed thing now is PRAYER!  Pray for complete healing and remission is their biggest prayer, as well as for guidance, strength, and discernment for the upcoming months as they navigate this season.


HERE ARE SOME WAYS YOU CAN HELP: 

#1 CaringBridge site 

Explore this Caring Bridge site.  There are links in the purple banner above to navigate to other ways to help, specifically the GoFundMe and Meal Train sites and the planner tabs.


#2 GoFundMe

Cancer isn't cheap even with insurance coverage.  Click the link in the purple banner under Ways to Help.

#3 Meal Train 

Marsha has a specialized cancer diet, but Grant and the girls still need to eat. Coming from personal experience, food is a huge blessing when you are going through a trauma. If you would like to help with Marsha's specialized diet, please contact Marsha for instructions.  Click the link in the purple banner under Ways to Help.

#4 Visitation Calendar

Marsha loves going for walks as part of her healing plan. She is always looking for a walking buddy, or someone to stop in and visit.  Click the link in the purple banner under planner.


#5 Worship and Walk with Marsha Fundraising Event October 9th, 3-6pm at Jacob's Well Church in Eau Claire, WI.

There will be a link in the purple banner under Ways to Help!  Buy your tickets early to help us plan!  This event will be a lot of fun.  Hayrides, picnic style dinner, games, silent auction, family photos, prayer walk, smores, and cotton candy.  Come join us as we support a wonderful family.




Marsha is our family, friend, co-worker, teacher and much more.  Please join us as we pray and walk with her through this difficult journey. 



Newest Update

I love NED

Journal entry by Marsha Anderson —

One more step is behind me! I had a lumpectomy and 3 lymph nodes removed on Februaryy 10th. I received back the news that I was NED. There was No Evidence of Disease in any of the areas removed!!! The doctors are all very happy and say this is a BIG DEAL!!! They call this PCR -pathological complete response. This means that the chemotherapy melted away all the cancer in those areas. The fact it worked in those areas is promising that it worked all over my body as well if any had broken away and floated anywhere else. Praying that is the case! Thank you to all of you prayer warriors! You helped pray for a miracle for me!

Since surgery, I have been trying to lay low and recoup. I also have been working real hard at trying to grow my hair back. Both activities have proven to be pretty boring activities. Lol  I am so ready for nicer weather to arrive! As I am sure most of you are too. 

This week, I did my radiation simulation so that the doctors can plan my radiation treatment. They lined me up, positioned me and marked me with tiny tattoos so that my position can be replicated 20 times over the next 5 weeks. I need to lay still with my arms extended above my head. The doctor and nurses were awesome to work with and so kind, but laying in that position for an extended amount of time, made my shoulder sore and my whole left arm get tingly and numb. Not sure if it was the discomfort, thinking about the pain, or just my age, but I got a huge hot flash while I was in the machine as well. Usually, I do not get bothered by being in scans, but the hot flash threw me off and I had to ask to be taken out of the machine. I felt terrible for causing an inconvenience for the staff! I have been trying to practice the position so that my arm will be more comfortable. I would also appreciate lots of prayer for comfort during the radiation appointments! I will also be doing immunotherapy until the end of August.

I have been told patients usually do better during this portion of treatments, so I would love to try to do more things. Feel free to contact me to get together or to just chat! I am missing being social!

 

Praises:

  • I reached PCR by the time of surgery!
  • Surgery went well and we got clean margins!
  • I am healing well and have great range of motion already
  • Spending time with family over spring break
  • Took a trip to Illinois to visit Marlee and TJ (forgot to get a picture)
  • spending time with Asher <3

 

Prayer requests:

  • All cancer is gone from my entire body
  • I can lie still for 20 minutes for the radiation treatments
  • The radiation side effects will be minimal, especially the burns
  • The side effects from immunotherapy would be minimal and that my appetite would come back and intestinal issues would calm down so that I can maintain weight
Read More of the journal titled "I love NED"
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