Jeana Keough is in her fifth week of treatment after cancer news tied to a tongue cancer diagnosis and two surgeries. Kara said the disease started as a painful spot that seemed like a tooth problem before biopsy results changed the course of care.
Kara in California
Kara said she is currently visiting Jeana Keough in California and seeing firsthand what her mother is facing. In her fundraising note, she wrote, "A few months ago, while visiting [my brother] Shane and me in Florida, my mom mentioned a painful spot on her tongue" and later said, "She assumed a tooth had been rubbing against it and had even gone to the dentist multiple times to have the tooth filed down."
She added that the sore spot had been there for nearly a year before the biopsy. "A biopsy confirmed our worst fear: squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue," Kara wrote, describing a diagnosis that turned one complaint into a long treatment plan.
Jeana Keough in California
Keough has had two surgeries, one to remove the cancer and another to remove lymph nodes. After the second surgery, doctors noticed the cancer had spread, and she is now receiving chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy.
Kara wrote, "What we thought would be a one-time surgery became a full cancer battle" and added, "Jeana is now in her fifth week of chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy." She also said, "The treatments are relentless. She is exhausted, struggling to stay awake, and becoming malnourished because the pain in her tongue and throat makes swallowing even the smallest bites or sips incredibly difficult. Every day is a battle just to get enough nutrition and hydration to continue treatment."
A GoFundMe
The treatment has also cut into Keough's commission-based work, which Kara said has left her mother with a massive loss of income. Kara and Kyle Bosworth live across the country with three young children, and she said the family is trying to make sure Keough feels cared for while she continues treatment.
A GoFundMe page set up to help pay for her care had raised $4,700 toward a $22,000 goal as of publication. Keough was an original cast member of Real Housewives of Orange County and stayed on the series for five seasons from 2006 to 2010.
