Hello family and friends,
As some of you know, my mother, Ava, only daughter of Mimi, was diagnosed with Stage 3 NonSmall Cell Lung Cancer last spring (2020). At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic she found herself struggling to breathe. Being the formidable woman she is, she drove herself to the hospital. They took her through diagnostic protocol and found a spot on her lung during the chest x-ray. After all was said and done...not Covid-19 but Lung Cancer.
Ava has never been a smoker so this news was and is a shock to all of us. How could this happen to her? Ava, mother to myself (Ariel), Alex, Daniel and David, grandmother to Ella and Harper is fighting lung cancer.
In June of 2020, she had a lobectomy, removing her upper left lung lobe. During this procedure they found the cancer was at Stage 3, meaning it had spread to several nearby lymph nodes. Not the diagnosis we were expecting. We were hoping that surgery would be the cure, but she required more treatment. After months of chemotherapy and some recovery time, she is now taking a targeted gene therapy medication called Tragresso. While it offers hope in extending her life, it has been very hard on her body. She and her oncologist are working on dosage and options so she can balance comfort and medication. Lung cancer is a slippery fish and while her procedures have removed her tumors, she has to have ongoing treatment.
At this point in her cancer journey it is about quality of life. Mom is striving to find simple pleasures in her home and garden while also fighting cancer. She takes strong cancer medication but also uses holistic approaches like acupunture and supplements to support her immune system, which has been weakened significantly by sugery, chemo and medication. These holistic treatments are not covered by insurance but improve her quality of life and decrease her pain and discomfort significantly. This is where our family could use financial support: helping mom pay for the holistic treatments that allow her to tolerate the side effects of harsh medication, chemotherapy and healing from all her treatment.
Please consider providing financial support here:
https://gofund.me/f0866186I live about 75 minutes north, work and teach at our local university and am ushering my stepdaughter through middle school online. With work/family/home commitments and Covid-19 considerations, I don't get to visit as often as I would like, That said, she needs the support of a broader circle of family and friends as she continues to fight cancer and heal.
Thanks for your love and support of my mom, Ava.
