Lost my business due to breast cancer diagnosis.

Hi, my name is idil. I'm the owner and merchandise designer and maker of IDIL VICE, a clothing and design boutique in the Oakland Hills, a neighborhood called Glenview, Oakland California. A boutique which offers sustainable fashion was a dream of mine and I worked to establish this dream for almost 30 years. Nobody ever expects to be diagnosed with cancer and so did I..., yet last year in July 2023 my doctors told me I had aggressive invasive HER2 positive ductal carcinoma. Shock! Disbelief..., then once it sunk in, FEAR, uncertainty and so much sadness. I'm just so lucky to have health insurance. So I went ahead and collected all my courage and started the treatment plan that was recommended for me. Chemotherapy, lumpectomy, surgery, radiation and infusions. I just actually finished my month long radiation treatment today and received my "certificate".

While I am lucky and thankful and grateful to all my doctors and nurses and family and friends who cared and still care for me, I did still eventually loose my business. A beautiful boutique where I sold my own designs to the public, which I happily operated for the past 2,5 years. Initially I thought that I could keep it open (closing was definitely not an option), adjusting my opening hours to the treatment schedules, but the reality of the impact that the cancer treatment and its side effects had on me made me realize that I could no longer keep up. I also realized I need time to recover, get healthy. I need physical therapy to correct a tightened tendon in my right arm (I was told most breast cancers are in the left breast, mine was on the right side) from lumpectomy surgery, which is crucial in order to be able to do my work as a taylor to make clothing. I'm realizing not only have I gone through some harsh treatment to kill the cancer, I also lost my boutique and with it my job and my income! I had business insurance for all types of things, except for loosing everything due to personal health issues. As a small business owner, my case does not qualify me to receive unemployment benefits. I was so lucky to receive $1000 to help cover rent in December from Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC, thank you!). One of the very few places where breast cancer patients can turn to and apply for a one-time grant to help with the living expenses during treatment and beyond. I now need your help! Can you make a donation towards brighter days for me? Possibly to be able to re-open my boutique in the future? The once in a lifetime large investment I made into setting up the boutique in 2021 and the complete loss of it today are unmeasurable and it's going to take a few years to recover all that. But first I have to get better and recover from breast cancer treatment. The funds raised will be used to support my basic living expenses through the next 8 months of cancer treatment with little or no income and pay for moving and storing store furnishings and sewing machines while I re-build and re-orient myself and my business. The fundraiser will allow me to take some time to recover and get back to my life to work to re-establish, re-open my store and get my job back. Because the store closing was such a sudden and depressing event for me and my clients, I am positive that an eventual re-opening and resuming will be a good thing for me and the neighborhood, which so wonderfully received me and my designs. Can we wipe out the sadness and get back to fruition? Together and with a little help from all my friends I do think it is possible.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lost-my-business-due-to-breast-cancer-diagnosis