Heather Chapman

Well many people ask how my Sister in law Heather is doing. Well we had a real shocking update on her this weekend.

Many of you know that my brother's wife Heather has been battling with Breast Cancer for the past two and a half years. My brother Scott never really lead us on to believe that Heathers cancer has been progressing so when Friday rolled around and I got a phone call form Scott telling me that Heather had a huge seizure, I was a little unprepared.

Here is Heather's story. After she had her second child, Aaron, she noticed something wrong as she was nursing her new baby. After some testing she was officially diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of 2006.

After much fighting and a double mastectomy she was finally declared as a "Cancer Survivor". Several months later, she was in for a check up and they found that her cancer was back.

Last November we found out that her tumors were getting larger and they were spreading as well. At that time we found out that her cancer was in her lungs, liver, blood, and bones. We were totally devastated but after a change in oncologist and cancer treatment we felt a little optimistic. Her new oncologist felt that even though she could never be cured from her cancer, it could be managed with an oral chemo.

This last two weeks Heather has been feeling sick and has lost 20 lbs. Scott felt like this was just a bad flu, but as we learned on Friday it was much worse. At 8:45 I got a phone call from Scott telling me that at 8:15 Heather had a major seizure. She was taken away by the ambulance to the hospital and he was driving there at the time he called me. He wanted me to call everyone in our family to tell them the news. Later that afternoon, my Dad and I picked up Jennifer and we went to the hospital to visit her. She was so frail and weak. It reminded me so much of my Grandmother when I visited her the day before she died. Scott told us everything that was going on at that point. Her seizure was caused by four tumors which have formed in her brain. She was having so much pressure in her brain that the neurosurgeon was surprised that she was not in a coma. At this point I felt that she wasn't going to make it more than two weeks.

Later that day Scott spoke to the oncologist who told him that with all the treatment they can offer, he would be very surprised if she makes it to Christmas. We all feel like it is going to be much sooner than that. After this weekend we see that she is on a roller coaster with her health. She will look and feel fine one day and then she will be throwing up and miserable the next. She is supposed to have some intense radiation for the next 10-15 days that will shrink her brain tumors which will relieve the pressure on her brain. This should prevent her from slipping into a coma. Regardless though, my brother will be without a wife very soon, and my niece and nephew will be without a mother.

Today she is supposed to find out that she has less than a year to live with treatment. I don't know how she will take this news, but my heart just breaks thinking about it. I love this woman so much. She has been such a great mother and wife to her family. She has been such a positive and wonderful sister to me. She has truly made this world a greater place for me.

Please pray for her and our family as this has been the most difficult thing many of us have ever had to go through. We have all been absolutely devastated. If you know her or Scott and would like to send a card, just let me know and I can give you my address. I go there pretty much everyday and can give them any cards you may want to send. Heather's sister Cherise also blogs about them and you can probably find better updates on her site. Here are some pictures of Heather, Scott, Hannah, and Aaron.





I did steal these pictures from Michelle so I hope you don't mind. Thanks for taking these wonderful family pictures of them.