ALTON – At 31 years old, Antoinette “Toni” Daniel's best friend, Rebekah Buedel, has been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer for the second time.
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Buedel defeated stage two breast cancer in 2015, when she was the mother of two children. Since then, she has had another child who is currently only eight months old. Buedel has been diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer in June 2018, and it has spread to her liver and spine this time. According to a doctor's prognosis, she may not live to see her youngest child's third birthday, but Daniel said her best friend is holding onto hope – planning to make the most of the 22 months doctors gave her and even pushing well beyond those days.
“She lived with me while she was pregnant,” Daniel said. “Her baby is only eight months old, and her kids are the same ages as mine. It's a surreal experience.”
Outside of being a single mother of three, including a 7 and a 9-year-old, Buedel is a veteran of the United States Army, where she served in active duty after enlisting in 2010. Despite her honorable discharge, she is currently on state insurance, which is not accepted everywhere. Daniel said helping her friend get the treatment she needs from the quality she deserves is exceedingly difficult, despite her status as a veteran.
“Even though she has been honorably discharged during active duty, she's on state insurance,” Daniel said. “She was living on my couch while she was pregnant and looking for a job after delivering her baby. Actually it was just after that she started having pain in her back.
“We all told her it was a pulled muscle or something and said she should go to the doctor. Of course, no one was thinking cancer. She went to the doctor, got an MRI, they discovered something on her back, and she got a biopsy. Sure enough, it was cancer again.”
After leaving the Army, Buedel lived in Hawaii and worked as a diving instructor. Daniel said her friend lives an extremely active and healthy lifestyle, often opting for a holistic diet based on well-being and even working for a vitamin company previous to her diagnosis.
“She's positive, she's strong, she's a fighter and she's a great mother,” Daniel said. “I can't believe this could happen to her. She's active, she eats right, she's a good person and she's gorgeous to boot. I just can't believe the world would let this happen to someone like her. Cancer is the worst.”
Not giving up on her best friend, Daniel said she is working toward hosting fundraisers in the near future. She is hoping a bowling evening or a dining night out could help raise some money to get Buedel the treatment she deserves – possibly at a cancer center in Chicago.
Until those fundraisers can be finalized, Daniel said there is a GoFundMe available online for anyone who would like to donate to it. Buedel provided a synopsis for the page, saying all funds raised will go toward medical bills as well as doing something special with her three girls. She said some of the donations will be set aside to create college funds for her children.
As of now, the GoFundMe has raised $4,445 of its $15,000 in 18 days with the help of 60 people.
That GoFundMe can be found here.
Anyone willing to help with the future fundraiser efforts is invited to contact Daniel at DJToniToniToni@gmail.com.
