## Judy’s Flock: No One Fights Alone 💜🏈 If you know Judy, you know two things: she loves the Ravens fiercely, and she may love her family almost as much. 😂💜 Now it’s time for Judy’s flock to rally around her. Many of you know that Judy has already fought fighting breast cancer. What none of us expected was for our world to be turned upside down again when doctors discovered a chordoma tumor in her cervical spine. Chordoma is an incredibly rare form of cancer. Only about 200 people are diagnosed with chordoma in the United States each year, and Judy’s tumor developed in her cervical spine—an especially difficult location because of its proximity to the spinal cord, major blood vessels, and other critical structures. The tumor had destroyed much of one of the vertebrae in her neck, leaving her with a broken and unstable neck and requiring major emergency surgery to remove as much of the tumor as safely possible, decompress her spinal cord, and reconstruct and stabilize her cervical spine. She is finally home and recovering, but she still has a long road ahead. She is healing from surgery, rebuilding her strength, and essentially learning how to properly use some of those muscles again. She cannot currently drive herself and needs help getting to appointments and managing some of the everyday things we normally don't think twice about. And now we head into the next part of this fight: proton radiation. Right now, we believe treatment will begin around September 16th, although Judy still has several scans, planning appointments, and fittings to complete before her official start date is confirmed. The initial plan is approximately 32–37 treatment days, Monday through Friday. Chordomas are notoriously resistant to conventional cancer treatments and require an extremely high dose of radiation for the best chance at controlling the tumor. Because Judy's cervical spine and the critical structures surrounding it cannot safely tolerate that entire dose at once, her treatments are expected to be divided into two proton radiation sessions each day, approximately six hours apart. That means for roughly six weeks, Judy and her caregivers will essentially be building their weekdays around getting her to treatment, waiting between sessions, getting her home, and doing it all again the next morning. That’s where Judy’s Flock comes in. 💜 So many people have asked, “What can we do?” We created this page to finally have an answer. Whether it's providing a meal, helping with a ride, sending a restaurant or grocery gift card, helping with an errand, or simply sending Judy some love and encouragement on one of the harder days, every little bit helps lighten the load. There is absolutely no obligation to contribute. This is simply a place for the incredible number of people who love Judy and have asked how they can help to have an easy way to do so. She has already faced breast cancer, a broken neck, major spinal surgery, and now a cancer so rare that most people have never even heard its name. But if there's one thing we know about Judy, she doesn't scare easily. Now it's time to tackle the next opponent. Same team. Bigger fight. 💜🏈 Judy’s Flock has her back. No one fights alone. #ProtonPower #JudysFlock
Judy is currently experiencing difficulty swallowing as she continues to heal from surgery, and we expect that may become more challenging during proton treatment. If you're providing a meal, soft, mild/non-spicy foods that can easily be cut or broken into small pieces are best. Please avoid anything particularly spicy, tough, or difficult to chew and swallow. While meals are incredibly appreciated, our biggest needs during these six weeks will be gas gift cards and meal-delivery gift cards. With treatment expected twice a day, five days a week, with approximately six hours between sessions, there will be a LOT of time spent traveling to and from treatment or away from home. Most helpful gift cards: Gas gift cards DoorDash / Uber Eats / Grubhub Restaurant gift cards for easy takeout Grocery delivery gift cards Some days Judy may feel great and want a normal meal, and other days swallowing, fatigue, or treatment side effects may make it difficult to know what she'll be able to eat. Meal-delivery gift cards give her and her caregivers the flexibility to choose whatever sounds manageable that day. Most importantly, please know that nothing is expected. Every meal, gift card, ride, message, prayer, and bit of encouragement means more than we can say. 💜🏈