Diane's Medical Expenses

Imagine you're sitting on the beach. Your children or grandchildren are playing by the water.  One runs up to you to show you the beautiful shell they just found. Your spouse, who just retired, is sitting next to you and you're talking about the trip you're going to take to Siesta Key over the holidays this year. As you push your feet deeper into the sand, you take a deep breath feeling the stress of the work week leave your body. You love your job--you worked hard for years and now have a position of greater authority and responsibility. It's stressful, but you are good at what you do.

The ocean breeze is cooling and calming. This is your happy place. You're surrounded by your family, toes in the sand, the sound of the ocean waves as they gently crash and spill onto the shoreline. People around you are happily chatting.  Seagulls fly by calling out for food. Life is good.

Except you've been feeling a little sick to your stomach lately.  It's probably something you ate. And there's some pain--not excruciating but it hurts. Stomach bug? It came on quite suddenly--you felt fine just days ago. Appendix? Someone you know had appendicitis and it was pretty painful. You tell yourself that if it doesn't resolve in another day, you'll go see your doctor....

Diane Parkerson, our Practice Manager at Audubon Veterinary Associates (Audubon, NJ), did go see her doctor. Three weeks later, after scans, ultrasounds, blood tests, two stent procedures, and a biopsy, Diane was given this diagnosis: Pancreatic cancer, Stage IVB (metastatic). She's 62 years old.


And that's how it can happen with pancreatic cancer. One day you're enjoying your life, feeling perfectly fine, taking care of yourself and your family, and then the next day--literally--you're feeling sick and painful.

Diane, who has worked at AVA for 29 years, is the kind of person people want to be near. People gravitate towards her because of her sunny disposition, zeal for life, and positive attitude. Diane is also an incredibly kind and giving person and the "rock" of the family she loves so much: her husband Jimmy, her daughters Jennifer and Alyssa, her son-in-law Jim, Alyssa's longtime love Gary, and her two granddaughters, Erin and Emily.


But Diane's love and devotion extends beyond her immediate family to include her siblings and their families, many friends, her AVA colleagues and our families, and her church and clergy. She is a good and lovely woman who has always tried to turn the ordinary into extraordinary. Yet, it is she who is extraordinary.


What does pancreatic cancer do besides rob you of someone you deeply love--someone who truly does make this world better? It bankrupts the family. Medical bills associated with the diagnosis and treatment of this horrible disease are enormous. Insurance will only cover so much. So now the Parkerson family is not only faced with losing their beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, but Jimmy and Diane could lose all of their assets if they can't pay the astronomical medical bills.

Cancer doesn't care. But we do. We are Diane's friends and colleagues at Audubon Veterinary.  Diane has been our fearless leader and shining light for 29 years. We will fight with her and for her. We cannot stop the outcome of Diane's cancer, but we can stop this hellish disease from taking everything.

This page is for people who want to help us do just that.



Thank you for reading Diane's story and thank you for any donation you may have offered. Your generosity and support mean so much to Diane and Diane's family who are just trying to get through each day as positive and as best they can.

Having cancer is horrible enough. You shouldn't have to lose everything.