Thank you for visiting my site and being a part of my cancer journey. If you are reading this, it means that you had a part in my life and for that I am so incredibly grateful. This journey began in late October, 2022 when I went to the doctor's office to address some heartburn and Gerd symptoms. I was sent to the ER to get some imaging done. They did a Cat scan and some ultrasounds and I left with a diagnosis of gastritis and slightly enlarged ovaries. I was given a couple prescriptions for heartburn, told to reduce stress and to follow up with a gynecologist regarding the ovaries. I followed up in November with the Richmond women's center and during the physical exam, the doctor did not feel the large ovaries and suggested that I get another set of scans done at their office. I opted not to do that as I just had scans done the week prior.
The symptoms eased up with the prescriptions and as a family we decided that I should leave my job at Rivian. It was a difficult decision as it was a job that I enjoyed and felt passionate about. However, I was working long hours and demands of the job were increasing weekly and adding to the stress that I was trying to reduce. So, on November 18th, I left my job with the intention of enjoying December and January with my family and then taking some time to heal.
In February, I started to have symptoms again, both heartburn and tenderness in the ovarian area. I made two doctors appts, one with the Women's center for the ovaries and another to follow up with my gastritis. On Friday, February 10th, I started to have waves of pain in my right kidney area. As the evening waned on, it got worse. By 1:30 am, I was in excruciating pain and had to go to the ER as I thought I was passing a kidney stone. The doctor thought I was passing a stone as well and ordered another Cat scan and ultrasounds. The result was no stones but that my ovaries had grown larger and were pressing on my kidney ureter causing spasms. The doctor said he believed that I had Ovarian cancer and needed to see a Gyno Oncologist the following Monday, which I did. I was told that I would have a laparoscopic total hysterectomy on Thursday and they would do a biopsy and send to pathology. We all believed at that point that it was just in my ovaries as my scans and lab work did not indicate otherwise. We were as hopeful as you can be after being told you have cancer.
My surgery was supposed to take 1-1.5 hours. It took over 4. The biopsy came back as gastric cancer, not ovarian. They opened me up to check the stomach where they felt the tumor and also found small white nodules on my peritoneum. I got the news as I was waking up from the surgery but it did not sink in or make sense to me. It was not until my appointment with my new Oncologist that I was told that I had terminal stage 4 gastric cancer that it became clear what I was battling. The statistics are 12-16 months to live. Here I was someone that rarely went to the doctors for illness. I have never had a broken bone or any serious injury. I could not believe how 3 weeks changed my life.
Having to sit down with my husband and 8-year-old daughter, Lulu and explaining to her what was going on was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. When I think of her, I burst out crying. However, when I think about all the family and all our friends that love her, it helps to ease my mind. Lulu adores Drew and with the support of so many, I know she will be ok. She has so many people ready and willing to love and protect her and that gives me some relief. She is my heart and I love her so much.
I plan on fighting. Statistics be damned. We have chosen a first line trail at Duke University. It is a random trial that will test the effect of adding a second immunotherapy to the chemo treatments. I will find out when I go for chemo if I was chosen or if I will get the standard chemo treatment for gastric cancer. We went and met with Dr. Hope Uronis and she wanted me to wait a couple more weeks to heal from my major surgery before starting my chemo treatments. I will try to give weekly updates for those of you following this page.
I want to take a couple of minutes to thank some people. I have had so many people reach out and offer help. You mean the world to me. To my friends that make up my support group, team Sequoia, I love you beyond measure. Thank you for supporting us in every possible way. Thank you for letting me cry on your shoulder and just listening to me. I have the best friends anyone could have and one really knows this when something like this happens. Thank you to Kunoor, our friend and favorite doctor for helping us navigate through the medical side of this journey. To all the people that have sent gift cards, care packages, flowers and cards, thank you for your kindness. It is humbling. Lastly to my family, the Chellman and Gness side, thank you for everything. I hope you already know just how much I love each and everyone of you.
It has been a little while and I apologize for that. The holidays were very tough but Santa was awesome to our little girl and that is what I was focused on. I want to give an update on the celebration of life. We have reserved a beautiful place in Banner Elk for the the celebration of life. Attached is a link so you can check it out. It will be May 18th and we have reserved the place for the day. Let me be clear; do not feel you have an obligation to attend. I know you have lives and travel and expenses come into play. I just wanted to make sure you all knew and could relay it to others that might not be on this chain. I will give updates as the date comes near. We love you very much!
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