PORT ANGELES — When a 25-year-old Port Angeles High School graduate fighting ovarian cancer was told she would receive the proceeds from tonight’s talent show, she was in tears.
Brandy Christian, who was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer in September, is now in remission but is struggling to pay numerous bills, she said.
The Port Angeles High School Leadership Class’s eighth annual Benefit &Talent Show is at 7 tonight at the Port Angeles Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave. Doors open at 6 p.m.
The theme is “A Journey Through the Looking Glass.”
About three months before she was diagnosed, Christian had back and rib pain. When she got a doctor’s appointment, doctors found liquid building in her chest cavity and a collapsed lung.
They took a CT scan and found a tumor on her left ovary about the size of a grapefruit, she said.
“The tumor was crazy big,” Christian said, adding that she didn’t know how something that large could be inside her without her knowing.
That started three months of treatment for her, which she finished last month.
She described herself as a positive person and said she did everything she could to stay optimistic through treatment, which was especially helped by the support from family and friends.
“We can overcome anything we set our minds to,” Christian said. “It hit me so fast, I had to make a choice [to stay positive].”
That doesn’t mean things were easy for her.
Treatment was difficult.
“There were days where you feel so defeated,” Christian said. “You are physically and emotionally beat down.
“But I kept telling myself, ‘I’m going to defeat this.’ ”
She is now optimistic she will be able to have children with her husband, Freddie. They had been trying for 2½ years before Christian was diagnosed with cancer — with no luck.
She said she had miscarried several times but thought it wasn’t a huge deal because she was so young and had plenty of time to try.
“I thought it was just a freak thing,” she said.
After she miscarried again in August, she began to feel there was a bigger problem.
Christian said doctors are optimistic she will be able to get pregnant. They had suggested she see a reproductive specialist, but the couple didn’t want to deal with that.
“We really want to have kids, but we didn’t want to go through all that reproductive stuff,” she said.
Although her insurance has covered the medical bills, Christian is now trying to catch up on other expenses.
Income has been unsteady since her diagnosis.
Due to chemotherapy treatments, Christian has been unable to work at Shaltry &Rudd Orthodontics, where she had started a new job just before her diagnosis.
She also said her husband has done everything she needs while she’s being treated, so he hasn’t been able to work all the time.
Eventually one of her co-workers, a student at the high school, recommended Christian benefit from from the talent show.
When Christian found out, she was in tears, she said.
“I thought it was really sweet, and I’m really grateful,” she said. “People have been so kind, and it inspires me to want to help and give back to other people.”
The talent show will feature several musical performances and magic. Guests can bid on a number of silent auction items prior to the show, including gift baskets, loads of gravel, round-trip tickets to Victoria, tanning, flowers and a vehicle front-end alignment.
A bake sale also will be held before the show, where tickets will be sold at the door: $10 per adult, $5 per student and $20 for a family.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsula dailynews.com.
