My friend, Sandra

I know it's a weather blog. I know it's supposed to be all about chasing and storms, but I got some sad news today, and I have decided to share... It concerns a friend of mine, who I've spoken of before. She's a good friend of mine who I learned a couple of months ago happens to also be a trained spotter and former chaser, so that makes this sort of weather related in that regard. Anyway, Sandra was diagnosed about a year ago with stage IIIC Ovarian Cancer. She's in her 30's, never had kids, and upon learning this was facing a full hysterectomy, robbing her of any chance of having children of her own. She made it through that like a true trooper. Chin up and tremendous faith in God. She has been on a rough road since then, many rounds of chemo, lots of sickness, an unfortunate infection that cost her toe... Unfortunately, recently, it was discovered that she had a new mass in her back that was fairly large. They have been treating her with radiation for that, but it has been very painful, this mass in her back, so she has been really struggling, and her faith has been pushed to the limits... Monday, she was admitted into the hospital to help her with severe nausea and replenish her hemoglobin (I've never been more proud of being a blood donor, as when I saw a bag of blood being fed into my sick friend.) Unfortunately, this morning, her CT scan results came back. The mass in her back has grown 30 - 35% since February. It's not responding at all to the radiation. The doctor explained that this is a very rare, difficult to treat cancer, and that he has one more treatment option for her, strong chemotherapy that must be administered on an inpatient basis for 4 days. She will begin the treatment on Monday. Unfortunately, the doctor has told her that this treatment is only 15% successful. She asked the doctor what her prognosis is if the cancer does not respond to the chemo. He told her that she will have about 6 - 9 months of her life left. I have never been a fan of time limits set on people's lives by doctors. Only God knows when someone will leave this world. I don't think doctors should offer those kinds of limitations. I encouraged Sandra to be strong and to not let a doctor decide what only God can decide for her.

Anyway, again, mostly unrelated to weather, but I felt compelled to share.

Prayers for my friend Sandra would be greatly appreciated.
~Dewdrop