An Adopted Daughters Plea

My name is Stephanie Forrester. 
I was adopted when I was 14 months old by a wonderful mother and father who we able to give me a great life. But even though I loved my paretns very much,  curiosity about where I came from always existed. 

My mother-in-law bought me one of those Ancestry DNA kits for Christmas this year, and I sent in the sample with the expectation that at least I'd find out what nationalities I was made up of. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagin that I would not only find out my nationality, but that Ancestry would match me with  an "extremely likely" match for what they believed to be my 2nd or 3rd cousin. So I reached out to my match. Again, my expetations were exceeded by finding my Great-Aunt-Deb who happens to be, among other things, a genological researcher. So she had a welath of information about her side of my family. Though her I was able to get my birth mother's name.  That's me and her in the picture when I was a baby.  Claudia Martin. I found out that I have a younger half sister and brother and that most of my life we had all lived within 20 miles of each other. Claudia had been estranged from her family for over 25 years when I found my Great-Aunt, so it took some digging, but very quickly after that I obtained contact information and called my long lost sister. She recognized my name immediately. Told me that she had slept with a photo of myself and our mother under her pillow when she was little and that she thought of me often throughout the years. It was a wonderful introduction to my birth family. But she had some very sad news that she had to deliver to me as well. 

My birth mother Claudia passed away from a heart attack on Saturday, January 27, 2018.  Just one day before I recieved the email notification about my match on Ancestry. 
Though saddened by the fact that I missed meeting her by such a small window, I am elated to have found my sister. I have since also talked to my brother and look forward to getting to know her though them. 

And that brings me to the reason for this campaign. Claudia lived a humble, low income life, as did her children and close family. I am trying to do what I can now to help raise money for the funeral costs. Claudia's body remains at the hospital until we can figure out these arrangements and we just want her to be put to rest. 

As she wised, we are going to creamate her. The costs outlined above will cover the transportation expense, the lowest cost Newcomber Memorial Funeral package, and money for an urn. 

Any bit you could contribute would help us out immensely. And I thank you in advance for any help you may be able to give to my new found grieving family.