Isabella was a healthy and vibrant 21 year old college student when she thought she injured her knee at the gym. When a doctor scheduled an MRI to determine if she had an ACL tear, she received the devastating news that she had a large tumor in the base of her femur. Subsequent tests confirmed that she had a very large tumor that had metastasized. Bella’s oncologist gave her less than a 20% chance of surviving her cancer based on her test results. Bella’s oncologist advised that the treatment was so harsh for her cancer that she should consider herself a full-time patient for at least a year, which meant dropping out of college and quitting her job. While waiting for chemo to start, Bella rolled over in her bed one night and her femur broke. She was rushed to the hospital and operated on the next day to stabilize her femur during chemotherapy. The ordeal was not only painful, but was emotionally traumatizing too. Bella’s chemotherapy consists of both outpatient infusions and two-week hospital stays where she receives a high-dose infusion of a powerful drug. She will receive a total of six treatments, taking close to a year in total. So far, the chemotherapy appears to be making good progress, and her physicians hope to operate on her leg to remove the very large tumor and reconstruct her femur with metal or another method sometime towards the end of the year. She is supported by her loving family and friends and brings joy to everyone around her, despite her trials.
The purpose of this campaign is to raise money for medical costs not covered by her insurance (for example, she plan to seek out promising trials for osteosarcoma treatments following chemotherapy), any travel costs related to treatment out-of-state for any trials or otherwise, medical devices to improve her quality of life (for example, walking aids or prosthetics if amputation becomes necessary).
While we appreciate every donation, please do not donate unless you have the means to do so. Her family will cover the expensive it can first and 100% of any money raised will be used directly for her benefit beyond that. Part of sharing her story is to raise awareness for osteosarcoma, a cancer disproportionately affecting children, teens, and young adults. It is a devastating form of cancer that goes undetected in many children. Because it is so rare, many healthcare providers don’t think to look for it and assume young people have a sports injury or growing pains, and the delay in finding the cancer often has severe consequences.