Cancer In A Pandemic: One Fairfield Mom's Story

FAIRFIELD, CT — A year ago, Sarah McWilliams and her husband, Greg, moved to Fairfield with their twin babies. A month later, Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer, and two months after that, the coronavirus pandemic hit Fairfield County, hard.

As Sarah and Greg juggle Sarah’s treatments with raising their 2-year-old twins, family friend Deirdre Burke has created a gofundme campaign to help cover the thousands of dollars in medical bills and childcare costs that have piled up over the past 11 months.

“We just have to stay as positive as we can,” said Sarah, 40, who was upbeat during an interview with Patch but also acknowledged that, “cancer in a pandemic is probably as low as you can get.”

Sarah has Stage 3C invasive lobular carcinoma, which she described as “the fastest-growing, sneakiest breast cancer that is treatable.”

She’s undergone surgery to remove her lymph nodes, and had PET and CT scans and chemotherapy, during which she broke an ankle. More recently, a scan revealed spots on her lungs. She has to wait several weeks to see if they grow.

Sarah and Greg were between insurance plans when she was diagnosed with cancer, which meant the couple had to pay for her surgery themselves.

“I had no idea how bad the surgery was going to be,” Sarah said, adding that after her lymph nodes were removed she couldn’t pick up her babies, Archie and Lana Rose.

When she had PET scans, she became radioactive and couldn’t kiss the children.

Breast cancer isn’t Sarah’s first medical battle. For nearly a decade, she struggled with infertility, finally welcoming the twins through a gestational carrier after having 12 miscarriages.

Before moving to Connecticut six years ago for Greg’s job as a rugby coach, Sarah and Greg lived in their native Ireland, where Sarah worked as a children’s special needs nurse. The pandemic has made the geographic barrier between the couple and their close family impenetrable.

A previous gofundme campaign helped pay for the family's childcare costs in the early months of the pandemic, but the couple is struggling to continue to afford the assistance they need. And with coronavirus still spreading across the state, Sarah worries about neighbors and friends caring for the twins.

Their Fairfield neighbors have been quick to offer support in whatever way they can.

“We never want to leave here,” Sarah said. “The community is absolutely incredible.”

Neighbors make a point to text the family, drop off food or offer to watch the children. One neighbor in particular, who is a breast cancer survivor and is the same age as Sarah’s mother, has sat with the twins when Sarah has had to go to the hospital. A group of moms the family know from a nearby park are organizing a meal train.

“It’s just amazing to go from feeling really lonely in this country for a couple of years, to moving to Fairfield and having something horrible happen — people are just, our little neighborhood in Palmer Bridge is just, amazing,” Sarah said.

As of early Tuesday morning, the gofundme account created last week had raised nearly $8,000 for the family. To donate, visit tinyurl.com/yckkhrtr.