About Tiffany Rose Gardone

She is one of many, but one who inspired many.

Tiffany Rose was born on February 14, 1983. She was a true Valentine Baby. The love for your child is immediate from the moment you see and hold your baby; you never imagine a future that is flooded with cancer. Tiffany was an overall energetic, talkative, and healthy child as she grew into adulthood.

In 2008, she became sick and couldn’t seem to get rid of the cough that she developed in the late fall. She was prescribed antibiotics and had the normal testing for pneumonia, etc. By April, she had lost a considerable amount of weight and was scheduled for a CT scan of her chest. We were to wait for the results at the hospital. The technician came out to the waiting room and instructed us to go immediately to the office of Tiffany’s PCP. This is where the Cancer Journey begins.

Tiffany was scheduled an appointment with an oncologist. Surely, there was a mistake and it was something other than the “C” word, maybe a parasite. Anything other than “C”. She was scheduled for a biopsy of the mass that was in her chest. She was to be awake for the biopsy and with that Tiffany showed how she would handle herself throughout this journey as she talked to the physician throughout the procedure even instructing them when and how they should begin the procedure.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough tissue for an accurate diagnosis, originally believing she had Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She was then scheduled for another surgical biopsy that would require they collapse her lung to reach the mass. An appointment was scheduled with the oncology physician for the outcome and diagnosis. The oncologist started with “I have good news”. At age 26, Tiffany was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We would learn the good news was the survival rate was much higher with Hodgkin’s.

Tiffany underwent the regular regimen of ABVD chemo drugs every 2 weeks for 8 months. She would lose her hair and would most likely not be able to have children. Tiffany hadn’t been able to conceive during her marriage and believed she couldn’t have children, so she had already crossed that disappointment in life. But, she would lose her hair. At 26, you are invincible, you will beat the cancer…. but the hair.

Tiffany adorned herself with many different styles of hats and became the fashionable blue-eyed beauty with the hats that she acquired. She decided to forgo a port and take the chemo drugs by intravenous. She did fine until one of the last infusions, when they couldn’t find a vein to use. The chemo drugs she was on tend to destroy your veins. The nurse needed to hold the vein in place with two needles while inserting a third needle into the vein, a very painful procedure. In January 2010, Tiffany was considered cancer free. The beginning of February, she became pregnant with her first child and delivered her miracle baby girl in November. In December of 2014, she had reached the milestone of the five year mark of being cancer free and we celebrated her life and future.

By this time Tiffany had overcome the ups and downs of life, being divorced, raising her daughter as a single mom, and putting herself through Dental School while being pregnant with her second child. She returned to school on the fourth day after giving birth to her son, again showing her strength and determination. She had obtained her dream job as a Dental Hygienist in her hometown. The celebration of being cancer free was short lived. In April of 2015, Tiffany would again have a cancer diagnosis, Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Her treatment was complicated by the previous use of chemo drugs that could not be used again and the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. She needed to have a mastectomy and opted for another surgery to complete the double mastectomy. There would be chemo and radiation, followed by multiple surgeries for the reconstruction. At the end of the treatment, Tiffany would say, “If the cancer came back, it would come back in either my bones or my brain”.

In June of 2018, Tiffany had gone tent camping and she began to have headaches. Her PCP thought that she had slept on her neck incorrectly during her camping trip. She was put on oxycodone for the pain, and she began to see a chiropractor. On Thursday, July 19, 2018, she lost mobility of her left side while shopping and was taken to the Emergency Room. The ER doctor ordered a brain CT scan and came back with the diagnosis that the breast cancer had metastasized to her brain.

He couldn’t tell us how many lesions there were, but there were more than five. Full brain radiation would be needed beginning that Monday. On Monday, Tiffany was fitted for a mask for radiation and began ten rounds of full brain radiation on Tuesday. A short vacation was planned in early September with her children and her mom. She was having trouble walking and would return home to face more radiation for the cancer in her spine. Chemo infusions followed, the cancer was spreading throughout her body and she was not recovering.

A few days before Christmas, Tiffany began a new immunotherapy, Tecentriq, that had not yet been FDA approved. Her doctor called on Christmas Eve to check on her. The drug needed to work quickly; we were losing her. By early January, Tiffany was spending a weekend at an indoor waterpark with her children and her mom, the drug was working, and she was taken off the pain medications. In April, the cancer in her body was completely resolved, it was gone. But the cancer in her brain had returned to its starting point. The drug did not cross the blood brain barrier. The blood brain barrier that protects your brain from infection crossing over to your brain was preventing the needed drug that could possibly cure the disease. The technician counted 100 lesions. Filing was made with the FDA for a clinical trial for Tiffany, but the trial did not come before Tiffany had too much damage and has lost too much function.

Tiffany never lost her love for life and her zeal to fight this fight with a positive, energetic, contagious bright outlook.

She never lost Faith in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and this was reflected in an interview when she said, “I’m at peace with everything no matter what…and I hope everyone else will be to”. Link to Kelly Sasso interview She continued to travel and cross off activities and destinations on her bucket list.

This Website is dedicated to all in their fight against “C”, and Tiffany is symbolic and representative of C warriors. The song, “You Make Me Brave” was playing as she entered Heaven on December 11, 2019.

The Hat Story

Learn More