I am homochoosing to raise funds for Cactus Cancer Society (CCS), because they are an incredible non-profit that truly cares and helps families assaulted by cancer. CCS has helped my kids and I process some of the harder, psychological detriment that invaded our lives. We love the virtual art workshops—Cactus Cancer Society offers some of the best virtual programming out there. They send you, your kids, partner, family members, or friends everything you will need to join the art workshops online. Not only do we end up with something beautiful that we created together, we also spend time chatting about our thoughts, feelings, and questions relating to each of our unique experiences with cancer.
I feel humbled and honored to be nominated amongst several of my fellow friends involved in YA Advocacy. Whether I win or lose, I am so happy to be able to fundraise for such an inspirational and actionable nonprofit.
MY CANCER STORY:
My husband and I were caregivers for my Grandpa for ten years. It was a honor to care for the man that raised me, it was also extremely difficult. When he left this world in March of 2019, I planned his funeral, designed his urn, headstone, and program, organized his 21-gun salute, hired my cousin to sing his favorite songs, and had our chaplain drive two hours to be the Officiant. Two weeks later, I found out we were pregnant with our third. I was 35, almost 36, and was immediately considered a high-risk “geriatric pregnancy.” I went on to have a slightly tumultuous pregnancy.
Within the time-span during my 30-and 33-week prenatal check ups, I noticed a concrete hardening taking up nearly half of my left breast. I showed my OB at my 33wk appointment and we both agreed imaging was needed. Then, she checked my cervix and I was 1.5cm dilated. It was 4:30 and I had her by 7:00PM.
The next several weeks were filled with tears, pumping, exhaustion, and bouncing back and forth between my hospital’s NICU and Advanced Imaging location.
I was diagnosed with Stage IIIA HER2+++Er+, Pr-, IDC and DCIS, with the removal of 28 lymph nodes. My tumor went from nothing to 13cm x 7cm x 7cm.
I completed 6 rounds of TCHP chemo and one full year of HP, every 21 days, with Neulasta to follow in 24hrs. We have since found a tumor in my pituitary gland, numerous lesions on my brain, demylineation in the gray matter of nearly every lobe of my brain. I had a teratoma and half of my lacrimal tear gland removed in March of 2024. That weird growth was a direct result of Cisplatin tears.
Currently, I JUST got home on 2/4/25. Since 1/2/25, I have been hospitalized at RUSH University for a “small bowel intussusception” (we are hoping this was the cause of my vasovagal syncope that began roughly 2 years ago) during the 5wks I was there, I had 2 major abdominal surgeries, 10 IR operations, four confirmed anterior infarctions, during panic attacks. I was given medications that Natives are allergic to and my throat closed up. At one point, my intuition forced me to advocate for a Doppler Ultrasound, twice. This resulted in finding a clot in my right axilla, in the PICC line vein, headed straight for my heart. The pathology from the resected portion of my small bowel came back CLEAR!! NO CANCER! I go back in a couple weeks to have 21 staples removed from my abdomen, and in four more weeks I will be beginning a new battery of testing for several types of cancers and autoimmune diseases.
I enjoy partnering with nonprofits, like The Steven G. Cancer Foundation, Elephants and Tea, Cactus Cancer Society, Tigerlily Foundation, Pickles Group, The American Indian Cancer Foundation, among others in effort to share my experiences and acquired knowledge with hopes to alleviate fears of the unknown for others.
I give land acknowledgements to the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, known as the suburbs of Chicago, IL, where I live with my husband, Justin, and our three beautiful children—Milo, Veda, and Zuri—and our dog, Rumi.
All Love,
Kimber
