Well, hi there; how's it going? My name is Sarah, nice to meet you.  This really isn't about me, though.  It's about another Sarah with an "h'", my longtime friend, and neighbor, Sarah K.  (So many "Sarah's" everywhere, which is why she's just called "K" by her friends!:)

  It's a REALLY long story, but the short version is that in April 2015, K's fifteen-month-old baby girl, Becky, got brain cancer.  (Becky had surgery and lots of hard-core chemo, though, and it seems to have worked because she's in remission and cancer-free now, thank God!!)  Just 3 months after Becky's diagnosis, however, an abnormal pap smear during her annual women's checkup led to more tests which led to K being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer of her own. 

  So much has happened to this poor girl since then, and I barely know the half of it:  First she had surgeries where they removed her uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, part of this part of you that's like a fatty apron across your tummy area (I forgot what K said it's called, sorry), and the lymph nodes in her groin and left armpit.  (Tumors came back though, so a couple months later, they had surgery again to remove like 20 pounds of more cancer from her abdomen.)  She went to hospital 5 days a week for 7 weeks of "external" radiation, then stayed there for week #1 of "internal" radiation... there were supposed to be 3 weeks worth of that but they stopped it when she got radiation burns inside her girl part from it.  (The burns didn't heal for a whole 7 months, either.  Can you imagine?! Eek!) 

  Then they pretty much said that's all they could do and said she would probably die in a matter of months. (That was around Christmas 2015.)  She didn't know what to do.  With the help of friends, friends of friends, and strangers (fundraiser), K pre-paid her own cremation and made her final plans.  She has no living family left, except a little sister who's in prison, and will be there for a while.  She's estranged from her child's father, and his family (slowly they're making amends now somewhat at least.)

  In spring of 2016, on the advice from her second opinion doctor, K began doing a really awesome clinical trial thing out-of-state in Arizona.  It's all too much for my brain to really wrap itself around, but I believe they used her own tumor cells and her own immune system cells to make a special vaccine, and then gave it to her.  For like 3 months she spent like half of each month down in Arizona.  I WAS SO AMAZED AT HOW SHE MANAGED TO MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN FOR HERSELF WITHOUT MUCH MONEY!  She found a charity that flew her to and from, ate her meals at the local soup kitchens and via groceries from food banks, and stayed in a traveler's hostel because hotels cost too much, yet a prior criminal record from 15+ years ago disqualified her from staying at free/low-cost charity options (like Ronald McDonald House, but for adult patients, you know?) Even though K's cancer is a kind that's "chemo-resistant", she did try chemo, too, for 6 weeks last summer, but stopped when it was obvious that chemo was just making her sicker but not destroying the cancer at all.

  I can't believe how brave she was, going through ALL of that virtually ALONE!!  She's just kept a super-positive attitude and has incredible faith in God's will for her.  I guess she's kind of like one of my hero's too, now that I've watched her in her struggle to beat cancer, motivated by her determination to do her best so her little one doesn't have to grow up motherless.  I mean, how do you NOT respect that, you know what I'm saying??

  Which brings me, finally, to now and why I'm sitting here doing this in the first place:  my friend, Sarah Kellas, REALLY needs some help again from people.  She went to Arizona again a week ago; they're making another special "vaccine" for her since her cancer has de-differentiated (changed) over the past year.  She had another pal who donated his airline miles to her so she could take a commercial flight since there weren't any charity ones this time to get her there when she needed to be... that airline lost her luggage.  She had put most of her money (cash) in her luggage because she thought it safest.  I probably would've done the same although I now know better because of this happening to her, so please don't judge if you happen to be wiser than we are, ok?

  A girl with cancer, a very long way from home, ALL ALONE in an unfamiliar place where she knows absolutely no one... she made the cash in her pocket last as long as she could, but she says she's got 5 bucks left so she can get a train to the airport on her last day.  She's eating through charities, as before, but now she's having to sleep at a homeless shelter.  She said she tried pan-handling even but people were cruel and the police threatened her with a ticket because that's against the law down there.  The church she went to yesterday gave her clothes, she told me, "so I don't have to keep wearing the same ones I've been washing out in the sink every night, at least."  

  Still, my heart is hurting for my friend, and so I'm here tonight to beg you to please, if you have ANYTHING you can spare, please consider donating to K.  She's got bad luck but truly, a heart of gold; to know her is to love her forever, I swear to you!  I don't know exactly how much to ask for so I said the goal is $500, but honestly, I know ANYTHING would help her so much.  Let's all pitch in so K can do this next week of her treatment with dignity as every cancer warrior deserves to and without having to deal with the stigma of being thought to be homeless and helpless, ok, please??

  THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CONSIDERATION AND THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO MAKE THIS MIRACLE HAPPEN FOR MY FRIEND.  GOD BLESS YOU!! :)