Kentucky mother battling rare cancer now raising awareness to help others

By Daisy Kershaw

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    FORT WRIGHT, Kentucky (WLWT) — A Fort Wright mom of four battling an extremely rare cancer is now helping in the fight for a cure.

Five years ago, Kristy Seither was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Cancer. She says it is so rare that most patients are misdiagnosed.

She wants to see that change.

Kristy and husband Craig Seither lead busy lives.

They have four children, and Kristy works as a lunch lady at Lloyd Memorial High in Erlanger.

In 2019, their family got some life-changing news.

In July of that year, Kristy went to the ER with a kidney stone – her doctors discovered a mass on her pancreas.

“I met with the surgical oncologist, he had written down, these are the possibilities of what could be on your pancreas. And he actually wrote down neuroendocrine [cancer], and he circled it, and he goes, but nobody has that,” recalls Kristy.

But it turned out that Kristy did.

“By September 10th, 2019, I had my surgery,” says Kristy, “They took out the, the tail of my pancreas, my spleen, some lymph nodes and some tumors on my liver.”

Kristy’s cancer is now stage four.

There’s no known cure for neuroendocrine cancer, but treatment is helping slow the progression.

“I’m on a pill called Afinitor,” explains Kristy, “I’ve been on it for three years, and I’ve seen stability with the tumors in my liver.”

They don’t know how much time she has left, but the family isn’t wasting a second of it.

“I just live like, you know, every day is a gift for me,” says Kristy.

This Sunday marked National Neuroendocrine Awareness Day.

Over the weekend, husband Craig hosted a benefit in honor of Kristy.

All of the money raised goes to the Neuroendocrine Cancer Awareness Network to help fund research.

If you are interested in making a donation or learning more about this cancer, CLICK HERE.

Kristy and Craig say they’re thankful for all the support they’ve received.

Her doctors at NKU are some of the leading specialists in Neuroendocrine care in the country.

The couple is optimistic that with proper care, she can continue to live, even with this cancer.

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