Robi’s Story

Site created on June 17, 2022


Hi everyone! First off, we wanted to thank everyone who has called, texted, prayed, and visited over the past couple of weeks. It has been a trying time  but with everyone's support, my mom is ready to start her healing journey. 

In the beginning of March, my mom went to get a physical. Because she had a history of a thyroid nodule (long time ago), her doctor suggested a thyroid ultrasound just to check in. The ultrasound didn't show anything serious with her thyroid, but picked up two abnormal looking lymph nodes on the left side of her neck. That lead to seeing an oncological surgeon at Wake Forest Cancer Center for a needle biopsy. Those results ended up being suggestive of lymphoma, but we didn't know what kind. After that, she went back to the surgeon and had those two nodes removed. On May 25th, we were given the definitive diagnosis that she had Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She had just been zip-lining about a month prior so to say this was a shock is an understatement.


After the diagnosis, she went in for an official PET scan and thankfully it only showed cancer in two other lymph nodes in her mediastinum (chest). This means that her Hodgkin's has a classification of 2A. According to her doctor, this type responds very well to the chemotherapy and overall is one of the more treatable cancers with a favorable outcome after treatment. She has had an extensive heart and lung test that she passed with flying colors and had a Portacath put in on June 13th to make administering the treatment and drawing blood easier.


Because this was all caught at such an early stage, her oncologist, Dr. John McKay, doesn't think that she's going to need the entire twelve doses of chemotherapy. After four doses (over the span of about two months), she'll have another PET scan and they will determine the next steps. Currently she's scheduled for one treatment in June, two in July, one in August and then that's when the PET scan will be repeated. We fully expect the cancer to be gone at that point, and then a decision will be made on whether to do a little more chemo or a little radiation to reduce the chance of reoccurrence.


In classic Robi Brath fashion, she will still be trying to keep up with her volunteer work as a Guardian ad Litem and helping with the Shalom Project from afar. She has taken this news with more grace than I thought possible and she's going into her healing journey with a really positive attitude. If you ask her, she feels like she is already cured. We have had so many wonderful friends, family, and strangers wish us well and tell us that they are praying for her that she says how could she not feel good about it all.


If you're looking for specific things to pray for and think positively about, she asks that we pray that the chemotherapy works like it should and that her body handles it well. You are welcome to reach out to her/us personally throughout this process and I will be using this site to update everyone in a more detailed capacity.


-Katy

Newest Update

Last day of radiation and Jason-mask-wearing babyyyyyyy

Journal entry by Katy Brath —

Today, Monday, September 12th, was day 10/10 of radiation for our favorite bada** and she went out with a bang (literally she rang a bell). She also received some sort of certificate that I've yet to authenticate but I'm sure it's lovely. We've been talking about how it was annoying that last week was a holiday and she could only go 4 days, pushing her last day to today instead of last Friday, but I think this is be best possible way to start off a week ever.

She has a doctor's appointment on Thursday of this week just to follow up on the treatment and discuss scheduling future scans and appointments (they'll monitor her every few months for the next bit just to make sure nothing comes back.) Her white blood count is on the rise thank goodness (just in time for flu season 😬) and she didn't have many, if any, side effects from the radiation. She still hasn't turned into a hulk-like superhero yet, but I still have high hopes.

Cancer diagnosis and treatment is really hard to process. I feel like I didn't have time to fully process that my mom was even sick, and then just as quickly, she wasn't. Her official diagnosis was given on May 25th, less than 4 months ago. It really has just been a blip in our lives and we are so immeasurably grateful for that. We know so many people and families are not as lucky as we are. And y'all have been integral in the healing process, from even before we knew my mom was sick. There is absolutely no way that we could ever thank you for the support and love you have shown my mom and our family over these last few months. She has had people literally all over the world thinking about her and praying for her and to be the recipient of that much love and healing can be a little overwhelming sometimes. But there has not been a single day during her treatment that she didn't get a text, call, card in the mail, food delivered to the front porch (or all of the above.) From all of us, we thank you. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for your delicious meals (yes, I definitely got in on those too.) Thank you for loving our family. Thank you for loving my mom.



P.S. Suck it cancer
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