For Melena, My Mom

Anyone who knows my parents knows that they are two of the kindest most giving people around. To say that 2018 has been a difficult year for them would be a huge understatement. My dads business warehouse caught fire at the beginning of the summer and most of his product was lost along with many irreplaceable personal family items that were stored there. Around the same time Mom hadn’t been feeling well. She had been having stomach pain, back pain, and chest pain. She went to her doctor who have her medicine but the symptoms continued to get worse. She went to the local emergency room but they sent her home with no answers. Her symptoms continued to worsen over the following 3 weeks to the point where she was in bed all the time in pain. She went back to the emergency room in early August where they found a spot on her bile duct. For that reason along with blood test results they admitted her. They continued running tests for the next 5 days. They doctors there said that due to a surgery Mom had when she was 15 that altered her anatomy, they didn’t feel they were equipped to handle her case. Told her MUSC would be better. So they sent her home again and Mom ended up in the ER two hours away in Charleston. They admitted her in early September. Mom explained her story to several doctors at MUSC for over a month. Finally after nearly two months in hospitals they sent her home on October 12, however with terrible news. I will never forget the moment my parents told me Mom had a very rare cancer. She was also diagnosed with secondary schlerosing cholangitis. Further testing showed the cancer had spread to distal lymph nodes meaning she wouldn’t be eligible for liver transplant. The doctors here couldn’t offer any type of treatment. We took her to a specialist in Boston to see if they could offer any hope however they couldn’t help. She’s been so happy just to be home and spending time with her family and we have been so happy to have her here. I do know that Mom has been so worried about the impossible medical bills and other expenses and what it means for the rest of us after she’s gone. Unfortunately my parents only had emergency medical insurance. The hospital bills are coming in daily and continue to add up to an overwhelming amount of money that I could never ask for. So with time running out and permission from my parents, I have decided to set up this GoFundMe to hopefully help my Dad pay for funeral costs and some of Moms final expenses. I don’t expect that everyone can donate, but I hope that everyone can help share Mom’s story and this campaign to help us give this amazing woman peace of mind.