Karen Anne Martin - Get Me Home

My niece Karen Anne Martin  is fighting her battle with Ependymoma, a malignant brain tumor.   The docs say she has weeks left to live.  

When Karen was 16 years old and living in Hubert, NC,  she was first diagnosed with brain cancer.  Karen is a very  bright and talented young lady with a bright future. She was in the talented and gifted classes in school and wanted to go to Space Camp.  The surgery left Karen impaired in some ways, however, it did not diminish her wit and faith in God.    Seven years later at the age of 23 a second malignant tumor was removed. There was no treatment  available at that time.  In 2011… she relocated from North Carolina (where she grew up) to Pittsburgh, PA.  There, she established a good life  with a job and her own apartment.

Just this past October at 38, Karen had her third partial brain tumor removed. This is where our current situation begins. This crazy woman drove herself to the hospital and was expected to be hospitalized for 2 weeks.  Shortly after the surgery, she had complications.  She was placed on a ventilator , could not walk, talk or eat.  After several weeks in hospital,  Karen was transferred  to Transitions Nursing facility in Washington, PA for further care..  After many weeks of no improvement, it has been established that Karen’s cancer is aggressive and fatal.  She lost her job, her apartment  her independence and her life due to cancer.  Karen has no funds available as her illness has taken all her financial resources. 

Karen is trying to get back home to Hubert, NC, for the little time she has left.  She would like to spend her days with her family and friends.   That wish will require expedient and expensive medical transportation and palliative care when she arrives in North Carolina.  Karen’s condition requires specialized equipment and personnel to make the 12 hour trip from PA to NC.   I am reaching out to all of you in hopes that you would be generous enough to help Karen fund these expenses………………and get her back home while she still has some time.

Please read the following story from Karen's close friend Amanda:  

Home Is Where Karen’s Heart Is…

Please help me send my terminally ill friend home to be with her family! She is suffering from complications after the removal of her third brain tumor (ependoymoma) which has been label a Class IV tumor.

Here’s the story:

Karen, what can I say… this woman is one of the most amazing humans I have ever met. Life has not been kind to her, but that never once meant that Karen would not be kind to life.

When I first met Karen she came to my church… alone. Naturally, I decided I was going to be her friend… even if she didn’t like it. While she was quite the introvert and I was obviously an extrovert… we ended up being great friends. She eventually ended up walking my dogs (who I think she secretly liked more than me), being a part of our Singles group, and helping me out with the church Christmas programs. I don’t think I have ever met someone so intelligent – many people didn’t get her and maybe found her odd. I knew that all she needed was a good friend. As I got to know Karen and learn more about her story… my heart broke for her.

I learned that she is a born-again Christian and loved to use the gift of music that God gave her. While he blessed her with the ability to play a variety of instruments her favorite is the flute. She LOVES to sing and is very good at it too. There is always a song in her heart. I learned that she grew up in North Carolina and was a vital part of her church’s worship ministry. She was also a leader for a group of young girls within the church. I learned that she had a strange sense of humor - and I totally got it! She would bust out with Spanish every once in a while and was very fluent in medical terms, procedures, and topics. She lived by herself, well she did have Bugs her rabbit. She came to church as often as she could because sometimes the job schedule that she had didn’t line up with time off Sundays – this girl LOVED working at Penzoil (working on cars)! I learned that at one point in her life she was married - but that ended badly. She had a daughter who she loves dearly but for reasons unbeknownst to me she could not be with. I also learned that she had a brain tumor…

When Karen was 16 years old she had her first brain tumor removed. Along with that came two years of chemotherapy and radiation. Seven years later at the age of 23 a second tumor was removed. There was no treatment at the time, but there were countless follow-up appointments. In 2011 she relocated from North Carolina (where she grew up) to Pittsburgh (this is where I met her J ). I believe there was more Radiation and other procedures around 2012, but I don’t have many details on that. Despite all of these things, she was a happy person, especially when she was around my dogs!! In the last few years, I began a family and ended up moving several hours away. We still kept in touch but not like we did when I was in Pittsburgh.

Just this past October at 38 she had her third brain tumor removed. This is where our current situation begins. This crazy woman drove herself to the hospital. Once I found out (on Facebook) that she was in the hospital, I rushed there and found her in ICU. She was barely able to talk but when I asked her how exactly she planned on getting home, she held her hands up and moved them back and forth as though she were holding a car’s steering wheel – She had every intention of driving herself home!!! Initially I found it funny and so typical of her, but then I got to thinking about it more deeply. Karen felt like an inconvenience to the world and didn’t want to trouble anyone with her problems. Again, my heart broke for her. I went back to visit her again, and her situation had gotten worse. It became apparent that it was not going to be just a few days or weeks in the hospital. She has since moved from the hospital to not one but now a second facility, a nursing home south of Pittsburgh. She has a trachea and a feeding tube. A few weeks ago she had a follow-up MRI and the results were another blow. Her oncologist gave her 3 options: 1) Do nothing – this will give her up to 6 weeks to live, 2) Take Chemotherapy – this will give her about 4 months to live but (and the doctor stressed this) her quality of life will not be good at all, or 3) Radiation - this was a long shot that has recently been shot down.

While her mother and father have been able to come to Pennsylvania a couple of times to visit, there are many friends and family in North Carolina and that is where Karen’s heart is. Her parents are not as young as they once were and traveling back and forth for them is physically draining. It is Karen’s deepest desire right now to just “go home”. Unfortunately, due to her situation it’s not just a long drive down the interstate. She needs medical transport which includes constant monitoring by medical professionals. Please help us to raise money to get her home to be with her family.

Thank You and God Bless!