In August 2018, Tessi's life was abruptly interrupted when she learned she had cancer. Tessi was diagnosed with Stage 3 Aggressive/ Stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma, a very rare and often deadly cancer that is usually found only in children. It is so rare, in fact, that Tessi's doctor had never even heard of it.
Tessi was referred to MD Anderson in Houston, TX for treatment. As a single mom living in Tennessee, traveling to Houston would require time away from her 9-year-old son. She was faced with two options to access the care she needed “drive or fly commercially. Driving would take 13 hours each direction, and that didn't include stops. In order to fly, Tessi would need to drive 1½ hours to the nearest commercial airport and pay $900 for a roundtrip ticket to Houston.