Hello Everyone,

My mom and family need you help!

My mother Dianna Rangel, is a mother of six children, a grandmother, wife, sister and a great friend. Growing up with my mom was and still is amazing. My mom was diagnosed with a malignant stage one breast cancer back in 1996. She had a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous tumor, during the lumpectomy procedure the surgeon also removed numerous lymph nodes. At this time, she went through months of chemotherapy and the maximum dosage of radiation. After her treatment, she hoped that this was her last battle with breast cancer. In 1999, another lump was found, this time the tumor was found to be benign, this was a relief. Years had gone by, and as time went on we thought breast cancer would remain in her past.

In January 2011, my mom had experienced some changes and pain within her breast. She immediately made appointment with her doctor. She was scheduled for a mammogram, the mammogram results were normal, but she was still experiencing pain and changes. An ultrasound was scheduled and performed. This ultrasound showed many areas in question, which lead to six biopsies during the ultrasound process. My mom let us know that she had been experiencing some problems with her breast and she was waiting on biopsy results. This long week of waiting for results weighed heavy on our minds. Finally, my mom received the call it was devastating news…her breast cancer came back.

On February 18, 2011 at age 63, my mom took the measures she needed to take to fight this breast cancer battle once again. My mom had a double mastectomy, the surgery was not only hard to physically recover from, but a mental and emotional surgery to overcome. In late March, my mom went through numerous tests such as an MRI, CT scan, nuclear heart exam and etc. While waiting for these results the doctor’s started my mom on chemotherapy immediately.

Her chemotherapy regimen consists of three different types of chemotherapy drugs. The chemotherapy infusion is scheduled every 3 weeks for a period of five hours. During my mom’s first treatment she was hospitalized, she had an infection and her white cell count was at an all time low. It was very hard to see my mom weak and sick while fighting this battle. In April, we finally received my mom’s full diagnosis.  My mom was diagnosed with a Stage 2 aggressive type of breast cancer called Infiltrating Lobular Carcinoma. The cancer was removed by the surgery and as of now the cancer hasn’t spread. The cancer was very large and aggressive. The cancer was only 1mm away from breaking into the chest wall, which could have led to cancer spreading into the chest cavity. Due to the aggressiveness of the cancer, my mom is prescribed 6 months of aggressive chemotherapy treatments every 3 weeks and an additional year of preventive chemotherapy.

Currently, my mom is on her 3^rd round of chemotherapy. My mom has been unable to work due to her surgery and she continues to remain unable to work due to the side effect from chemotherapy. When undergoing chemotherapy, there are always out of pocket costs of medications, high deductibles, doctor’s visits, hospitalizations costs, and additional expenses that insurance does not cover. Since my mom’s treatment plan will be a total of 1 year and 6 months, these expenses are adding up rapidly. If you can provide any assistance, we sure would appreciate your help. Thank you for reading my mom’s story.