Team Faith Samuel

Faith is a 45 year old devoted mother of four boys, a youth and young adult director in her church and an elementary kindergarten teacher, who was recently diagnosed with Stage 3c Breast Cancer with Lymph Nodes metastases to the neck.
Faith's journey started roughly 2 years ago with a small knot that formed in her upper chest wall between her shoulder and breast. Over a small period of time the knot would appear and then disappear. The knot eventually become very painful and began to limited her ability to use her arm or raise her shoulder. After repeated trips to her doctor and to the ER, no one could pinpoint the reason for her pain or tell her why the knot would appear and then seemingly disappear from time to time. After more time had past, she was referred to an outpatient surgeon for an exploratory lap with biopsy to possible find out the etiology of her pain. The results of this surgery was basically no findings of anything that could be causing her pain. Again, she was left no answers. After the procedure, the pain did subside for a short time, but return a few weeks later. Again, Faith returned to the her doctor and to the ER seeking help in finding the etiology to her pain. By this time, the chest wall/ shoulder knot had grown to a significant size and could be visualized under the skin. She could no longer raise her arm and the area was very sensitive to touch. At this point, about a year and a half has now past with several ER and doctors visits back to back with no avail. The doctors began to treat her as if she was a pain medication seeking patient. One morning after suffering a long painful night she decided to go to another doctor's clinic in a near by town. The physicians there did a work up and started requesting her previous medical records and prior test. While she was waiting for the workup to be complete, she went back to the hospital's ER because she was in so much pain. . It was during this visit, the ER doctor questioned her about the large knot in her chest wall /shoulder and decided to order an ultrasound to evaluated the knot.. The results came back as a softball size mass suspicious for malignancy... As one can imagine these results were devastating, shocking, overwhelming and very scary for her and her family. The ER doctor then told her to follow up with an oncologist, immediately. At this point, the pain was so unimaginably painful that she then went the ER at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston. At MD Anderson they assessed her and told that she needed a diagnosis and referral from her primary care for treatment.. At this point, Faith was still in a lot of pain and was having difficulty swallowing and had become very short of breath, she was discharged from MD Anderson's ER and she immediately left and to went UTMB Galveston ER the same night. At UTMB Galveston, the ER doctor referred her to a primary care physician who was able to see her that following Monday. Once she saw the physician on Monday, they were able to do a full assessment of the area and scheduled her for a biopsy within the same week. The results of the biopsy was Stage 3c Breast cancer with Mets to the lymph nodes in the neck. Faith then went back to MD Anderson's Emergency department with her diagnosis and she was then admitted to be evaluated and assessed for treatment. At the current time, Faith is undergoing 12 weeks of chemotherapy, one dose per week to be followed by another 12 weeks of chemo , one dose per 3 weeks. She is also undergoing immunotherapy as well with each chemo treatment. Once chemo is complete, she will then have surgery to remove the mass followed by 6 weeks of daily radiation therapy. After radiation, she may possibly need more chemo per her doctor, but that will be determined at a later date. Faith has been through so much in such a short period of time, but her faith and determination has kept her strong throughout this journey. We are asking that you please join in supporting her by purchasing a t-shirt to help her combat the cost of her rising medical bills and treatment cost. Together let's show Faith that she is not alone because - Her Fight is Our Fight..#TeamFaith