On the sunny Friday before New Year’s Eve, Allison Revoli sat inside a Waffle House with her boyfriend Jack. That morning Allison had something much larger on her plate to share than the standard eggs, bacon and grits — she has cancer and no insurance.

The public relations senior told her live-in boyfriend, quite plainly, she has cervical cancer.

“It was very difficult explaining that,” Revoli said. “You never know how the other person is going to react.”

Revoli was one of the 12,710 new cases of cervical cancer in the United States that year.

According to the American Cancer Society, one of the main causes of the disease is Human Papilloma Virus, also known as HPV. If caught early, cervical cancer has a 93 percent five-year survival rate. If caught in the later stages, the survival rate declines to 15 percent.

After hearing his girlfriend’s words in Waffle House that Friday, Jack Albrecht said he was quiet and surprised. Revoli had offered him the chance to cut his losses and leave their relationship. His reaction to her proposal came a month later in the form of SaveAllison.com, a website set up to tell his girlfriend’s story and offer visitors a way to donate.

As of Jan. 31, the website has collected about $1,000 in contributions. The procedure will cost about $7,500, half is due by Feb. 9, the surgery date.

“I would have thought we would have this sort of response by next week as opposed to now,” Albrecht said. “It has a lot of momentum going for it right now. There are a lot of generous people out there.”

When Teri Wilson, Grand Prairie Independent School District community relations director, heard of Revoli’s predicament, she made a few calls. The two used to work in the same office. Within the month, Wilson acquired a venue and hired a band for a fundraiser in Allison’s name. Wilson, who is also a UTA alumna, brought in a feature band comprised of several other UTA alumni.

“They’re a bunch of Mavericks doing something to help another Maverick,” Wilson said.

When asked about what her future entails, Revoli is quiet. She still wants to pursue a career in school public relations, although she recently had to leave an internship to deal with her cancer. She said her long time goals in life remain unchanged from that Friday when she walked into that Waffle House — she still goes to school, does her work and plays with her and Jack’s dogs, Lilly and Sadie. If her disease progresses, she said it could impact her ability to have children.

“I don’t know if I want children at this point,” she said. “But I certainly don’t want the option taken away from me.”