Mainer is Doing Everything She Can To Help Save Her Best Friend’s Life
"I lost my childhood best friend back in 1999 and never found another woman to fill that role until I met Megan. Now I'm going to do whatever I can to help her through, so one day we can be sitting on a porch talking about how strong she was."
Terri Jones
Terri Jones and Megan Poulin are best friends. They both live in Oakland, Maine and when they met, they sparked an immediate friendship and knew they were going to share their lives together.
After all, a best friend is like a marriage. You go through all the ups and downs of life with that person and a lot of the time, your best friend is who you choose to lean on above all others.
Right now, Megan, Terri and many other loving friends and family members are going through an impossible situation, concerning Megan.
Megan, at only 30-years-young was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Terri told me it is a fast-moving and invasive cancer.
Triple-negative breast cancer is a kind of breast cancer that does not have any of the receptors that are commonly found in breast cancer.
Think of cancer cells as a house. The front door may have three kinds of locks, called receptors,
if you have triple-negative breast cancer, it means those three locks aren’t there. So doctors have fewer keys for treatment. Fortunately, chemotherapy is still an effective option.
Terri shared that Megan found the lump May 10th, 2022 and got the official diagnosis on June 13th, 2022. Since then, there has been more growth and even now, questionable lumps on the other breast that need to be biopsied.
Terri told me that as of July 12, she needs another biopsy on her lymphoid, and if it spreads there that's not good.
Terri is not going to just sit around and as the true friend she is, she got to work right away.
She owns a store called, 465 Nutrition, so she started fundraising there immediately, selling t-shirts, magnets, and keychains. A bake sale is being planned, along with a few different raffles as well.
Terri's biggest project to help her friend is a motorcycle bike run in October. Her hope is to have a ton of bikers and a big beautiful ride that starts and ends in their beloved town of Oakland. They will of course try to take the ride in front of Megan's house to show encouragement and support. And she's not done, she wants to set up a large BBQ with food trucks for additional donations.
She understands that her life has changed and this is a huge undertaking but no feat is too small for her dear friend.
She always worries about everyone else so it's time we show her how many have her back as well.
When she got her diagnose she was more worried about her friends and family and how this was going to affect them then she was worried about how it was going to affect her.
Terri Jones
Megan has been through her fair share of losses in her life. Terri told me that Megan's best friend passed last year and she had to put her dog down this year, and now, this. Sadly, she also received her diagnosis just weeks before her wedding and had to cancel.
Terri told me that Megan hopes to have kids in the near future after she's married but, was told, surviving the treatment will most likely result in her being unable to have children.
Megan has a blog that she shares her thoughts in throughout her journey with cancer and one of her posts says the following,
I found out that my cancer was triple negative and my cancer cells were replicating at 80%. Normal cancer cells typically replicate at about 20%. Triple negative cancer is rare, aggressive, and harder to treat
Megan wants people to know that cancer doesn't care how old you are and just because you are young, does not mean you are not at risk of breast cancer.
Her first chemo treatment is this month and Terri is doing all of this fundraising to help her not to stress over hospital bills, treatment and also day to day expenditures.
She has already lost enough and she doesn't need to worry about bills and losing her house as well.
Terri Jones
These women do not want anyone to look at this story as a sad one, but one of awareness, love, courage, and true friendship.
In your life, you are lucky enough to meet someone who understands every part of you. It is evident that Megan and Terri have a special kind of friendship.
I truly believe Terri and Megan will get a chance to sit on that porch one day and talk about how strong they both were, together, throughout their lives.
If you want to find out how you can help, you can visit Megan's GoFundME page that another dear friend, Natalie Steeves created for her.
Early detection is everything. As women we should always be persistent when it comes to giving ourselves routine breast exams and making an appointment if you feel you have found anything rare. Stick to your annual exams and be proactive with your bodies. It's the only one we have.