Heather 2005
Heather: Fall, 2005
 
Heather 2006
Heather: Fall, 2006
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~ Who Is Heather...And Why Is She In This Hand Basket? ~

Heather is a 34-year-old woman from upstate New York. She's funny and smart and incredibly talented. She owns her own pottery business and makes all of her stock by hand. She's a wonderful friend, has two adorable cats, and can knit a mean sweater. But none of those things are the reason why we're all naked in a calendar and asking you to buy it. No, what caused that is something quite different.

Just a few days after Christmas of 2005, Heather went to an appointment with an Ear-Nose-Throat doctor. She'd had a nagging bronchial cough for over 6 months. Complaining to her doctors didn't get her very far. They told her she had acid reflux. Though Heather had never had such a condition in her life, that didn't seem to make much of a dent in the diagnosis. She finally complained enough that the doctors ordered the x-rays, but also insisted that she go to ENT to have her throat looked at, to prove the cough was due to damage from reflux. The cough continued- she couldn't kick it. She was coughing blood at Christmas.

The ENT doctor asked if she had x-ray results yet, and Heather said no. The doctor left to get the x-rays, and was gone for 45 minutes. When she came back, she showed Heather the x-ray. There was a 13 centimeter mass behind her left lung.

Heather has never been a smoker.

The predictable flurry of tests found that she had Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She was started on chemotherapy as fast as the doctors could manage it. Fortunately, Heather works at a hospital with an excellent oncology department. That probably saved her life. Unfortunately, she has no prescription coverage on her medical insurance, and because she is working, she doesn't qualify for government aid. The medications that will keep her alive physically are going to kill her financially, and even if she survives the cancer, she may not survive the debt.

Heather has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatments and, as of this writing, we don't know if her tumor is actually gone. But the medical bills keep rolling in, much faster than her salary can cover them.

That's pretty much how we got here. We're naked so Heather doesn't go broke. So buy a calendar. Or five. Or just donate. Or buy pottery from Heather - she can finally make things again after not being allowed to touch any clay during the course of her treatment. But help us help Heather. We love her. And none of us want to see her win her fight against cancer, only to be held under crushing debt for the rest of her life just to stay alive.