Roxy's Story

Round 1: Stage I Breast Cancer (1999)

Roxy was first diagnosed with Stage I Breast Cancer in 1999 at the age of 33 (fewer than 5% of women are diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40). At the time, she was a full-time college student working on her Masters and raising 4 kids under the age of 10 (Jessica was under a year) as a single mom. Not only did she manage to graduate while taking care for 4 young children, she did it while going through chemo, treatment, and a mastectomy. She beat cancer!

Shortly after her treatment ended in early 2000s, she decided that she was given another chance at life for a reason. She made the decision to open her home to foster children and give as many kids as possible a loving home.

She was superwoman.

Round 2: Stage III Breast Cancer - Lymph Nodes (2017)

Almost 20 years later and over 200 foster kids, our mom received a call on her 50th birthday and was told that her cancer was back. This time, it began as Stage II and then later grew to stage III as it moved to a few lymph nodes. The cancer had returned on the same side as her previous mastectomy (which confused us all). Once again, she had multiple surgeries, another mastectomy, another round of chemo, radiation, infections, setbacks, more surgeries, and complete exhaustion.

Genetic Testing: CHEK2 Gene Mutation

At this point, we knew that with the history she has had and the return of cancer so many years later, there had to be a deeper cause for this. She decided to go through genetic testing to see if some sort of gene mutation could be the blame. Her 4 children (now all grown) sat with her during genetic counseling to go through her results. Her tests came back positive for a CHEK2 gene mutation. Essentially, this put her at a much higher risk for breast cancer and recurrences (1 in 3). Although this was devastating to hear (knowing it was just an unlucky hand that was dealt), helped us all get a better understanding as to why this was happening to her.

2 Year Check-Up: January 2019

In January (2019), Roxy went in for her 2-year check-up. This would have been the appointment that would determine if she was in remission. Like all previous appointments, this consisted of a full body scan. As everything had been clear just 6 months prior, we expected to hear “all clear” once again. Then she got the call. The cancer was back.

Round 3: Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer - Incurable (2019)

During her scan in January, they found an area of concern in her liver. After a biopsy only a few days later, they confirmed that it was cancer. It was consistent with her previous breast cancer which told us that the breast cancer had spread and become metastatic (when cancer cells travel through the blood and form new tumors in other parts of the body).  

On February 19, 2019, she was diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer. This is the most aggressive stage of cancer. Unfortunately, once the cancer cells are in the bloodstream and it moves to other vital organs, there is no cure – only treatment options that can slow the progression.

What’s next?

As of February 28, 2019, she has a treatment plan, praise Jesus! Because her cancer is incurable, her treatment plan is focused on quality of life. Overly aggressive drugs, treatments, and procedures have not been proven to prolong life, so rather than make her miserable, immobile, and unable to care for herself, this plan is targeted towards allowing her to live her best life while enjoying time with her kids and grandbabies without the awful side effects. 

Treatment

Because her type of cancer is hormone fed, she has begun a monthly shot (Falsadex) that works as a hormone blocker to try and prevent the cancer from feeding off it and growing faster. This is a very painful process but luckily, won’t slow her down too much. On March 11, 2019, she went in to get set up for radiation which will begin within the next couple weeks. This will be a very intense, and very specifically targeted type of radiation to the area on her liver. Radiation will be every day for roughly 2-3 weeks. Once she completes this, she will begin a daily chemo pill (Palbo) that will continue indefinitely or until it is no longer effective. Because the drugs in the chemo pill can tamper with radiation, chemo cannot begin until the radiation is complete. 

This treatment will continue as long as it is working. If anything changes or proves to be unsuccessful, the treatment plan will then be tailored to her needs. Treatment will be ongoing, regularly tweaked, and unfortunately will never end.

💕

We believe in an incredibly big God. We know that His plans are good. We know that He is in control and that no matter where this journey takes our family, that God is still, and always will be, on the throne. He is faithful.

God bless you all. May you find encouragement through Roxy’s journey for your own life or journey that life may take you on.

We will update this as often as we can and whenever there's new news. We love you all so much. Keep praying. God is good!! 

Much Love,

Amber, Aaron, Jamie and Jessica

(Roxy’s children)

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4