Monica’s cancer journey began Sept 17, 2020 when she got the call she had Stage 3 IDC/DCIS ER+ Breast Cancer…..WHILE PREGNANT. She underwent multiple surgeries and AC chemo while pregnant. After her daughter was born 5 weeks early, she spent 2 weeks in the NICU before coming home. It was then that she received 12 rounds of Taxol chemo followed by 25 rounds of radiation. After treatment she was NED (no evidence of disease). Fast forward to Oct 2024, her oncologist finally convinced her to join a clinical trial. Before starting the trial she needed multiple tests/scans done to make sure she still qualified. One test picked something up and another and another. January of 2025, she was diagnosed with Stage IV Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Cancer had metastasized to my Thymus Gland (which happens in less than 1% of patients). She received 5 rounds of Gem/Carb chemo only to find out her tumor was growing instead of shrinking. She immediately had surgery to remove her thymus gland followed by 35 rounds of radiation. After that she was told she was NED but had no scans to confirm. Her first post treatment scan done in Aug 2025 confirmed she was NOT in NED and had found her cancer had spread even further. It has now metastasized to multiple lymph nodes, her right lung and her spine. Monica is a single mom of 6 kids (husband passed away) and she’s in the fight of her life. She’ll be receiving chemo every 3 weeks for the rest of her life. Thankfully the side effects she get from chemo aren’t too terrible but they do hit her pretty hard. I’m juggling her treatments, her kids (one of which is a somewhat newly diagnosed T1D) on top of her being in nursing school. It’s a lot but she has so much to fight for!! Any assistance would be so greatly appreciated!!