Tina Evans fought and beat breast cancer. But the odds are no longer on her side. After only a few months of celebrating her last chemotherapy session, she was dealt another devastating blow.
“I never felt worse than after that last radiation,” Tina said.
“When I walked out, and you’re supposed to be like, ‘Yeah, it’s over.’ And I’m like, ‘No’… I thought, ‘When is it coming back?'”
For two years she went through chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and 28 rounds of radiation.
But she discovered the cancer cells spread to the fluid surrounding her brain and spinal cord. It’s called leptomeningeal disease. The prognosis of survival is measured in months.
“It makes me angry. It’s not fear; it’s that this is unfair. Anger is your response to injustice,” Dan, Tina’s husband, said.
“Obviously I’m sitting here wondering if this is my last Christmas because in a year I may not see another Christmas,” Tina said.
“Every night I tuck my children in I am grateful for one more night to tuck them in. That’s how I’ve been living — how can I get one more day with them.”
The mother of two wants to fight to spend a little more time with her two daughters: five-year-old Sydney and three-year-old Sansa.
Tina’s medical team is sourcing out every option, among them a clinic in Texas offers treatment, but it’s expensive. Friends are raising money for the possibility of Tina living just a little while longer.
Courtney Bourgeois and a crew of other friends are doing everything they can.
“Failure is not an option. Dying is not an option for her,” Bourgeois said.
“She has fought so hard and now to be given this blow is unfair. Sansa and Sydney are so little, I can’t imagine.
“She has to live. She has to have some more time.”
Friends have arranged for a gofundme to help the family. They’ve also organized other fundraising events and activities, information is posted on their Facebook or email miraclesfortina@gmail.com.
They’re all leaning into the hope of giving her girls as many memories as a miracle will allow.
“It’s taught me about the present moment and all we have is today.
“You might not even have today; you just have now. All of us have the now,” Tina said.
“I’m lucky I have this information to really make me live now.”