Dear friends and family of the wonderful Andy DuBois,

As some of you may know, Andy has recently been diagnosed with thyroid cancer (thyroid papillary carcinoma, to be precise). Any cancer diagnosis is serious and scary, but in her own words, she says she's "won the cancer lottery" - meaning her treatment will hopefully be straightforward and her prospects are very good. Thankfully, the cancer has not spread beyond her thyroid, and due to the size and location of the nodules, she will not have to undergo chemo or radiation, but she will need surgery to remove her entire thyroid in the months ahead. She will be medication-dependent after this procedure. Understandably, Andy is nervous about this significant surgery.

As someone who has always been healthy and takes very good care of herself, Andy does not have traditional corporate health insurance but rather uses a Health Share, which means submitting medical bills for partial reimbursement. She is investigating enrolling in traditional health insurance, but she has already incurred almost $10,000 in bills for the imaging and testing that was needed for her diagnosis. She also expects to have to pay for at least a chunk of her surgery, which is quoted at $38,000. These bills combined with the time off of work that she'll need to take to recover makes for a financial strain that she could use some help to manage.

Even though Andy lives alone and runs her Naturopathic Medicine practice by herself, we know she is not alone - she's got us, her village! And she needs us now more than ever to come around her and support her financially during this time. There will be lots of other ways we can show our support for her too as she goes through her surgery and recovery process and ultimately heals from cancer; stay tuned for those in the weeks and months ahead.

We love you Andy, you are held and supported!