March 8th 2024– first the good news– Yesterday, Alicia’s CT scan showed some fluid that could be drained in her Right lung that could give her some relief with breathing. That was done this morning and she said she felt some improved breathing and her voice is stronger already. She has been able to eat a bit better and appetite has improved. Now the Not so good news– The CT scan is also showing the current chemo treatment is not working to shrink or halt spread of her cancer. There are new lesions showing in her vertebrae and breast bone with lung masses same size or larger. Her Oncologist is switching her chemo meds to something he hopes will be effective over the next few weeks. Next scan later this month will tell if new therapy is getting results. Her medical benefit premiums are about to double as she switches from normal to COBRA coverage. She needs the campaign to keep her care and treatments as well as living expenses. Thank you all for your amazing support of prayers, shares and donations. Your contributions help her focus on the fight! She is fighting each day and she remains positive and inspired with your help!
UPDATE: March 6th 2024-Hey guys, thanks for coming along on our journey for Alicia to beat cancer! We thank each of you for your support and want you to know YOU have made a difference! She is so grateful for your encouragement, love and prayers from across the country, let’s help keep this campaign going!
Alicia saw her oncologist this week as she has been consistently short of breath. He has ordered some more tests and suspects her drain tube is not reaching the pocket of fluid in her lung anymore and that may be contributing to her struggled breathing. If that is the case, they will need to re-set her drain in the hospital. Additionally he wants to rule out blood clots which may have formed in her lungs. She wants you to know she is “feeling” better in other ways in spite of the struggles with breathing. Her voice has been stronger in the past week and her appetite has been improved, both good things! So, I’ll update you on the outcomes and next steps with lab and CT results soon. Meanwhile, keep up the Prayers, campaign shares and know that every one of you are helping her with your support so she can focus on the fight! Mama Kate
Alicia’s Story: I’m Kate and live in Tennessee. This campaign is for my daughter, Alicia who lives in Houston. I’m starting this campaign for her as she is battling against cancer again and could use your help!
Alicia is not the type of person to ask for help, but she really needs it now! She is unable to work since December 2023 due to her illness and the effects of Chemo treatment. She just was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast cancer, now in her lungs and a Pleural Effusion. Your donations will provide her basic support with food, utilities, housing, medical co-payments while she is not able to work. Get to know a little about this beautiful woman here. Alicia is a skilled and passionate lifelong equestrian (also a talented hair stylist). She is just 35 but has an “old soul”. She has always been a strong-willed, independent and courageous girl. She was willing to take on and face challenges from an early age that most kids wouldn’t have considered. She’s an athlete, artist, stylist and fashionista. She’s always had to work for what she wanted since we had a large family, rescued animals and lived on a limited income. She grew up in the country, her love of horses and dedication to riding gave her a sense of responsibility, confidence and determination which has served her in all areas of life. We rescued and fostered animals and horses, many were not trained or fully broke. Alicia was always willing to work with them and improve their skills and confidence. In College, she would volunteer with some of the top horse trainers just to get time in the saddle with their young horses.
A few years ago, Alicia moved to Houston to venture out and start a new life after meeting the love of her life – Trey! He is a true Texas Gentleman and firefighter. She was able to share her love of riding and he shared his love of Texas life and also one of his favorite past times, golf. They are kindred spirits who enjoy renaissance fairs, golfing, exploring historical places, and watching movies together. They are best friends! She was working at a great salon, riding horses and living her very best life. It was the Summer of 2020 when she went for a mammogram due to a suspicious lump. After a biopsy, she was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. It was a frightening and grim prognosis by the doctors and radiologists. But she is a fighter and with Trey by her side, she was determined to face the battle that was ahead.
She continued to work while she started treatment. She underwent extensive Chemotherapy, then a double mastectomy, followed by intense radiation! She was quite sick, lost her hair, energy, muscle tone and ability to ride. But she was victorious and in Fall of 2021, she was eligible to have natural reconstructive surgery, which was a 14 hour long procedure! With the disease behind her, She “rung the bell” and was on her way to healing and living life. She began riding horses again, became more focused on playing golf and was working full time as a stylist. Each PET scan was coming back clean with no evidence of the disease. Life was full, happy and very busy!
Then suddenly in November of 2023, she caught a cold that seemed to “settle” into her chest. She developed a persistent cough and went to the doctor who prescribed antibiotics for bronchitis. She seemed to feel better for a few days then the cough would come right back. This time, she was given a stronger antibiotic and told it “Should clear up in 3 days”. Again, she had slight improvement before the cough would return and was causing her to be really short of breath. She got some relief from cough syrup and since she didn’t have a fever or any other signs of illness she kept working and insisted on keeping their plans to visit our family in Tennessee for Christmas. It was during that visit that we all realized her cough was pretty severe. She promised us she would go see the doctor when she got home. The day after she got back to Texas, Trey took her to the ER as she was struggling to breath. They admitted her after x-rays showed she had a Pneumonia. After 2 days, she wasn’t improving much and so they began a series of tests. CAT Scan, Ultrasound, bloodwork and more X-rays. Tests indicated the pneumonia seemed to be cleared up however, they saw a significant amount of fluid surrounding her lungs.
Day 4 in the hospital- they told her they would drain the fluid off and she should feel better. The afternoon of the draining procedure, a doctor told her he didn’t like what he saw from the fluid and suspected it was caused by cancer and not pneumonia! This news hit her hard! Now doctors needed to insert a drain so they could remove the fluid every few days, she would then be able to go home with the drain and do it herself. We now had some new words, Pleural Effusion.
After 7 days, she was sent home and a PET scan was scheduled the following Monday. Unfortunately, the oncologist confirmed the harsh news that her breast cancer was active again and had now spread to her lungs. It is Metastasized and that is why she was struggling to breathe and had the coughing spasms. This diagnosis took almost 2 months to get from the onset of her symptoms. Her life has suddenly just changed, and everything has stopped. She was immediately put back on Chemo treatment. Doctors are hopeful the cancer will respond and they can put it in “check”. The goal is stopping the active progression, stop the recurrence of fluid buildup and shrink a spot on the liver too.
Once again, she is very sick from Chemo, fatigued, loss of appetite and now deals with extreme shortness of breath and the cough. But like before, she is a fighter, a warrior and not giving up! None of us are! Her pain is managed with mild morphine. She sleeps propped up, and her voice is affected. Doing simple chores make her breathless and needing to rest. We are applying for state benefits but it will take at least 6 months to receive once they review and approve. Currently, she has no income. Luckily, she has been allowed to keep her medical coverage from work for now but has to pay the premiums out of pocket, it only covers a portion of treatments. We help where we can but bills are starting to come in and she has no means to cover them.
Please know your support and contribution will not be in vain, she will fight for herself, and for those that she loves and that love her. Contributions will cover expenses for food, utilities, housing, out of pocket medical costs and medical support resources she desperately needs. She has a lot of living planned, many things to contribute to life and more horses that need riding! Thank you for your compassion and contribution. I will be providing updates with scan results, outcomes, prognosis and pictures and hope you will stay tuned in to see her “fly” again!