March 2013 began Barbara’s 11-year journey with breast cancer. At 39 years old, Barbara was diagnosed with Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma. At the time, she was homeschooling and raising her two children, ages 9 and 7 (now 21 and 18).
The news was devastating and very emotionally traumatic. Barbara and her family were faced with so many decisions on how to heal from this disease. She decided to agree to a lumpectomy and radiation at the time. After finishing all her treatments, she went on to recover and heal from them and continued with life, raising her children and working outside of the home to help her family financially.
In 2018 Barbara was diagnosed once again with reoccurring breast cancer. This time she decided to try and do things naturally and detox her body with healing foods, natural therapies and supplements. This proved to be an overwhelming experience and was difficult to do while raising young children and with limited finances.
By 2020, the cancer had metastasized to a place on her sternum and a place in her lungs. Her medical oncologist said that this cancer has always been driven by estrogen, so he recommended hormone blocking therapies. After 6 months of this therapy all the metastases were not showing on the scan and only the original tumor remained.
After a year and a half of this treatment Barbara switched to another less aggressive hormone blocking treatment because the side effects of the other treatment left her in terrible joint pain and other effects that were greatly affecting her life and work.
This new treatment seemed to help for a time but about a year later, in December of 2023, a new PET scan was taken and showed that she had further metastases that had now spread to her whole sternum, more on her lung and her left sacrum. Now facing a stage 4 diagnosis. She was in a lot of pain and did not know whether she would be able to continue working doing massage therapy.
Barbara began hormone blocking therapy once again in January 2024. She receives a monthly injection to stop the production of estrogen as well as an aromatase inhibitor. She is also using some alternative therapies and nutrition to help heal her body. Current blood tests have shown a decrease in her cancer tumor markers and the pain in her sternum has improved. So, things are healing! Praise the Lord!
Barbara currently is taking time off from work to help her body heal and recover. Barbara is a mother and owner of her own massage therapy business. Barbara pours out her love and heart to her family, friends and clients. She passionately loves her family, friends and community.
Her willingness to hear someone’s heart and make space for them to be seen and valued is one of her greatest attributes. Barbara gives from a place of genuine love and desire to see others thrive and know that they matter. She has a love for Jesus and a close walk with Him that she loves to share with others.
That is the place where she finds her strength, peace and courage to continue walking forward through all life’s circumstances and situations. Her family often hears her singing at home as she finds great peace and comfort in songs of praise and worship. Barbara loves spending time with her family and friends laughing, being silly, talking and doing outdoor activities together. She loves to cook, to try learning Latin dance and is learning the Spanish language once again. She also loves to help others in their healing and health.
Since being diagnosed with this disease at an advanced stage, it has been difficult to do anything that requires a lot of strength or force using her upper body. The pain in her chest has been debilitating at times but it is diminishing! She has found that certain exercises, lifting heavier things or some movements can cause this area to flare up and be very painful.
Barbara is fundraising to help cover the costs of the medical expenses that are not covered by her insurance due to a high deductible. These include the monthly drug therapy injections, medication, blood tests, doctor fees and facility fees, travel and eventually another scan. Currently Barbara must cover anywhere from $1570-$1800 a month to cover costs not paid by the insurance company.
Barbara is hopeful and expectant that all of these therapies will help kick this cancer out for good! She is looking forward to getting back to regaining her strength and endurance through weight training and other activities. She is also looking forward to getting back to her clients to be able to provide care without pain in her own body. Barbara knows that there is so much ahead for her on this journey, and she desires to share her story with others to help walk with them in their time of need.
Please donate to Help Hope Live in Barbara’s honor today and share this with your family and friends too! Thank you for your love, prayers and generous support!
Below is a summary of how to donate to Help Hope Live to help support Barbara.
Family and friends of Barbara Gage are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with Catastrophic Illness.
Barbara has chosen to fundraise for Help Hope Live in part because Help Hope Live assures fiscal accountability of funds raised and tax deductibility for contributors. Contributors can be sure donations will be used to pay or reimburse medical and related expenses. To make a tax-deductible donation to this fundraising campaign, click on the GIVE button. And Please share Barbara’s page on your social media platforms.
For more information, please contact Help Hope Live at 800.642.8399.
Thank you for your support!
