01/04/2022 – Update: Britt has been in and out of the hospital the entire month of December. The first week she had a stroke and lost sight in her left eye. Mid December she was in terrible pain with uncontrolled vomiting was admitted and chemotherapy was changed as the folfox chemo is no long effective. 01/02/2022 she finally went in to have the abdominal swelling addressed. She is currently at Yale having peritoneal dialysis done to remove the fluid and hopefully get some assistance. She really needs nursing care daily at this point.
11/3/2021 – Update: she was ready for a new start…pain free existence…potentially beating the 2% rule we all see published on the web. Yesterday morning she was wheeled in for the life changing surgery at 7:20am, at 8:45am I was called to come see the nurse…my stomach was in knots, this was going to take 6 hours, why….what’s wrong…they stopped her surgery after small tumors on the liver appeared, biopsy tested positive for cancer. It’s spreading, we don’t know what is next. That’s all I have for today, I love her, I will honor her choices.
10/05/2021 – Update on Brittaney SURGERY – she was admitted this weekend with nausea and vomiting to the point of dehydration, she is losing a lot of weight and really can use the support of people to help with co-pays and nutritional supplements. She is getting ready for a BIG surgery as well, a Distal Pancreatectomy.
In this surgery they will remove the body and tail of the pancreas and her spleen. This is a big surgery for her, she will be in the hospital for a few weeks. It will take about 2 months for her to recover enough for her to start with Chemotherapy again. She will then continue to have more chemo to attack the lymph-nodes affected.
Surgery will happen the end of October.
https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/about-your-distal-pancreatectomy
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My 31 year old daughter Brittaney was diagnosed on April 27th with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. She had been ill for several years with stomach issues, even had her gallbladder removed because of excessive gallstones in 2018. They will do another biopsy because they believe it has metastasized to her liver as well. This has been both emotionally and financially stressful for her and our entire family. I have been helping as much as I can with food and paying her rent as she is now on disability and can not work. She goes every two weeks for her Folfox Chemo at Smillow Yale in New Haven Connecticut. After her 5 hour infusion she takes a pump home with her for another 2 days as the chemo medication must go slowly into her body. She is then sick for 5 days and has terrible tremors, nausea, cold sensitivity as well as neuropathy in her hands and feet. She is exhausted all the time and has trouble remembering things. She tries not to worry me or others and has not directly asked for help. She was not able to get her paperwork for STD and now LTD in and did not receive the $200 a week she has been living on. As you can imagine its hard to pay bills like phone, internet, food, rent, lights, heat, car insurance, medical copays, prescriptions and gas for her car on $800 a month. Her car was repossessed but its ok, I got her another that will get her to treatments, but its getting to be a lot and she is actually asking for help. I am was going to do a gofund me thing but saw this GiveTaxFree has less fees and also allows donors to get a tax deduction. I cant believe I am going to try this to help her out but I don’t know what else to do. If people know of other sources for heat and electric assistance that she could potentially get. She also was denied food stamps and will try it again because the state has her down working for several companies (all past employment) and she needs to prove she is not working and bring the paperwork for disability to them. Also she has a mobile home that is in need of repair, it needs to be lifted and leveled because of water leaking, if anyone one knows of someone who can help with that please send me or her a message. This is a post from her Facebook Page Brittaney Hitzler:
Hey guys, so I’m trying to raise money so I won’t lose my home and also to help me with my finances. I was recently diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer which has made it so I am no longer able to work. I don’t ask for help usually but trying just to live comfortably has become a major challenge now. Please understand I don’t want to be looked at or treated as if I’m a burden or a mooch because I am neither of those thing’s.
I am a hard worker, I always help people in need, I have been a great friend, I have worked for and earned everything I have, I’m a great pet mom, I’ve been a good sister, daughter, and grandchild, and lastly I’ve been good to my cousin’s. Anytime anyone needs me, I am there. I am fighting to stay alive and beat this because of all the people who believe in me. I know this isn’t how a fundraiser usually works but under the circumstances I’d rather ask here than through some “gofundme” because they take a big chunk as a percentage for themselves so I’m cutting out the middleman so to speak and ask that if you are willing to donate please private message me. I thank everyone willing to help me, I appreciate it and will never forget it.