“It’s Cancer”- Coming Together to Help One of Our Own- Danica Jorgensen
Tracy Cowin, Jettin On A Star, Emily Brodbeck, Danica Jorgensen
By: Brittany Bevis
On September 27th, 2016, Tracy Cowin was sitting next to her best friend, Danica Jorgensen, as doctors delivered news that would change both of their lives forever. “It’s cancer.”
“Suddenly, life got way more real,” Tracy says. “You always hear about it happening to others, but you never expect to have it happen to your best friend.”
Danica actually found the lump on her breast herself, during a self-examination. Due to her young age, she hadn’t had routine mammograms, which aren’t typically recommend until after 45, unless there is a family history of the disease, Tracy says.
“Further testing and biopsy showed it was early stage Invasive Ductal Carcinoma,” Tracy continues. “She started hormone blockers in October to reduce the size of the tumor. Due to its location, it needed to shrink before surgery could be performed. In January, the tumor had shrunk enough to look at scheduling surgery. In March 2017, she met with her surgeon, who did an MRI. That MRI showed that the tumor had shrunk enough for surgery, but it was concerning. She wanted to have the surgery immediately.”
However, as a horse trainer, Danica was worried about her clients who were preparing to attend the AQHA L1 Central Championships in Oklahoma City. Therefore, she elected to push the surgery until April 18th. Danica has since undergone a mastectomy. Unfortunately, the pathology report showed that the cancer had started to spread to her lymph nodes, raising her diagnosis to Stage 3A Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. She’s now undergoing chemotherapy.
Scooters Jose Uno, Tracy Cowin and Danica Jorgensen
Danica currently runs her horse training operation out of the Texas Tech Equestrian Center where she is also the Texas Tech Equestrian Team Western Coach for the University’s IHSA team. That’s actually where Danica and Tracy first met.
“She introduced me to the world of showing horses, and we quickly became great friends. I now show in Ranch Riding and Showmanship with my horse, Scooter, under her guidance. She helped me take a horse that everyone said would never be anything more than a lost cause into a competitive show horse. She was the first one to believe in us as a team.”
Thankfully, since Danica is a part-time employee of Texas Tech she does have insurance. However, she doesn’t receive sick days or paid vacation, so those aren’t available to relieve the time she must spend away from work while recovering from her mastectomy and now chemotherapy.
“The medical bills are piling up and just really beginning,” Tracy says. “The mastectomy is just the first step to beating this cancer, and further treatments will be necessary to make sure Danica kicks cancer’s butt. Danica is a very strong, independent person who’s always willing to help others. Now it’s time for all of those she has helped to give back in her time of need.”
“My goal is to raise enough funds to help cover her medical expenses from this surgery and subsequent treatments so that all she has to worry about is getting healthy and back to doing what she truly loves, training horses and her clients. The stress of worrying about the finances isn’t condusive to healing. If you can give monetarily, every little bit helps. The bills are already coming in, and she has already spent thousands just in medicines and imaging. The surgery bill is sure to be large, even with insurance.”
Irene Norris, Kay-Lynn Huffaker, Danica Jorgensen, Canthpbnoticeme.
While Danica is recovering from surgery, her friend and fellow trainer, Hayley Dwyer, has volunteered to ride her show horses in order to keep them prepared for upcoming events. “Once she’s cleared from surgery, she plans to continue to work as much as possible while receiving chemotherapy. She’s currently up and moving after surgery and looking to start giving lesson instruction early next week. She’s a tough one for sure, and she loves her job.”
While the situation is a tough one indeed, Danica’s prospects for recovery are promising. “After the mastectomy, she had a 75% prognosis of the cancer coming back, without further treatment. With chemotherapy and radiation, she has a great prognosis of about 83% of being cancer free after five years. She started her first round of chemotherapy on May 5th.”
If you feel compelled to assist Danica in her recovery, Tracy has set up a GoFundMe account in her name.
Click here to view the GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/danica-jorgensen-medical-support.
We send our prayers of support to Danica and wish her a speedy and complete recovery.
