Meet Kelsey

My positive experience with Team Maggie is unconventional. I was not a recipient of any grant money. My experience instead, was one of compassion, love, and communication.

I was diagnosed with Moderately Differentiated Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, (Breast Cancer), on Feb. 9th of this year 2016. I went straight into action with my husband by my side. Spending all day every day advocating for my health and our financial well-being. This past 3 months has been the most tireless work of my 34 year old life!!

I received the best of care at USC Keck Hospital in Los Angeles, and decided on a Double Mastectomy with Reconstruction for my surgery on March 22nd. We didn't know if I would need Chemo or Radiation yet. Amidst our planning, a social worker asked us if we planned on having children. We've always agreed we want children. We just got married in June of last year 2015. Suffice it to say, we now truly know the meaning of the advice, "The first year of marriage is the hardest!".

Through this social worker's inquiry, we learned we should definitely start planning on fertility treatments during the interim of my surgery and finding out if I needed Chemo. I was SO overwhelmed.

Enter Team Maggie. The social worker gave us the grant application packet, and I ended up speaking with Mary Jones the night before my big surgery. I was so nervous. Scared. She could not have been nicer. She told me her daughter had been diagnosed in her 20's with the same cancer. She had beaten the cancer, was past it, and was now a mother of a beautiful baby girl. Mary took the time to educate me on Team Maggie as an option for me and treated me as if I too was one of her children going through this process. I felt an instant closeness to her. I guess sometimes you can feel the warmth of a person's soul through the telephone.