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BENEFIT AUCTION

Jillian Johnson Benefit
 

Administrators:

Shari Reyna
39460 Hwy. 68
Lowell OR  97452
5041-937-2765
 

Sheila Nixon
8194 Golf Link Road
Hilmar CA  95324
209-632-3764

      Donations & Payments
 for items

January 2, 2008

Bill and Chris Strickland had been raising dairy goats for 6 years, when their first daughter, Jillian, was born, so  –as Chris points out -- she wasn’t their first “kid”.  At 6 weeks of age Jillian went to her first goat show.  From that time on she was integral part of the Strickland’s extended goat family.  She grew up, started 4-H at age 9 and became Sunny Valley LaManchas.  Her love, enthusiasm and commitment to dairy goats continued through high school graduation.  She finished 4H as Champion Senior Showman at Oregon State Fair.  Jillian participated in the ADGA National Show in Salem and was part of the 2^nd place fitting team and placed well in showmanship.  Her 4 yr old recorded grade, Sabrina, was 3^rd.  Jillian was awarded an ADGA Jim Morrison Scholarship and she went on to college.  Nearly a fairytale life ……….until life happened.   

Today she is the mother of three children (aged 3, 5 and 10) and has a loving husband who is returning to full employment after retraining through workman’s compensation.  Yes, she still has goats.  She is 13 credit hours from a degree in sociology with a gerontology certificate.  She works half time with the county social services in home unit working with Oregon project Independence – a program to keep elderly who do not qualify for federal programs in their own homes.  She loves it!  Once again, nearly a fairytale life……….. until life happened. 

In late October after suffering 5 months of increasingly severe symptoms, she was diagnosed with a bone marrow tumor in her left thigh.  The initial diagnosis was a primary bone tumor called diffuse large B cell lymphoma.  Once all the lab results and scan reports came in . . . there was metastasis.  

There is the initial tumor in the left thigh, basically from the neck (top portion) of the thigh bone (femur) and extending down the front outside portion of the bone about 22 cm (2.45 cm/inch).  There is also involvement of the lymph nodes in the upper thigh and groin on the same (left) side.  The other spot of metastasis is the first thoracic vertebrae, that is, the first vertebra of the back that has ribs attached.  There is also a small mass in the front central part of her chest that may or may not be lymphoma.  Her cancer then is systemic and the treatment that was planned was for such a case.  So it will be 6 rounds of chemotherapy and then more scans.  The six rounds will finish up next March. 

Her current activities are now doctors and chemotherapy while trying to maintain some modicum of a normal family life.  The outlook is good for a recovery to full health.  Financial recovery is another matter.  There is no health insurance and diagnosis and treatment have gotten very expensive very rapidly. 

This auction is being set up to help ease that financial strain.  Any donation or any amount would ease the financial burden and allow Jillian to fully concentrate on wellness.   

All auction proceeds and direct donations will go to:

Thank you for your support.