Donation protected
My mother, Sandee Mulkeran, has been fighting breast cancer for 6, almost 7 years. She was first diagnosed when I was barely 11 years old with stage 3 triple negative breast cancer. After going through many surgeries such as a double mastectomy and having several lymph nodes removed from under her arm, she began extensive chemotherapy. She still continued to work full time to take care of me, her only daughter, with no help from my father who left us when I was not even 5 years old. After many chemo treatments, surgeries, and emotional stress, she finally went into remission. My mom and I were estatic, assuming everything could go back to normal.
Doctors say once you're in remission for about 5 years, the chance of cancer returning is reduced to almost nothing. However, only a few months before her 5 year cancer free anniversary, she starts getting severe pains in her sternum/chest area, thinking there could be an infection growing from one of her previous surgeries, she immediately goes to see her oncologist. The oncologist sends her for a variety of tests, MRIs, blood work, ultrasounds, you name it.
Background info: At this time we had just recently been able to move out of my Grandma's house into a middle class aparrment, changing my high school and entire social circle when we had the opprotunity. My mom had just begun a job at Henry Ford as a women's health (how ironic) medical biller and we had high hopes for the future.
After the tests were performed, more appointments were scheduled, neither of us really getting any positive or negative updates. Finally, a little bit before my 16th birthday, we were out to dinner and her phone rings. It's her doctor. They talk for awhile, the waitress waiting to take our order but I insist she waits. After around 15 minutes of my mom responding "yes," "okay," and "I understand," she hangs up and bursts into tears. Even our waitress came over to ask what was wrong. At the time, the fine details of the diagnosis were still unclear, but just as we had feared, the tests showed a cancerous mass near her sternum, along with fluid in her lungs which they weren't able to confirm contained cancer until more tests were done.
Fast forward to the full results of all her biopsies and testing, taking a couple months to complete. My mom was diagnosed with now stage 4 (the worst stage) triple negative cancer, however this time, it travelled into her bones, lungs, and almost directly to her heart and bloodstream. No surgeries can be done at this point to remove any tumors, and draining the fluid from her lungs is an expensive and painful process that doesn't seem to help anything long term. Our only hope was chemotherapy, and a lot of it.
My mom has recently went through her 50th chemo treatment, nearly 5 times the treatments she had the first time she was diagnosed. About a month ago we had no choice but to move in with my Grandma once again because even though my mom still struggled to work full time, she was finding herself in too much pain to last a whole work day, or even go into work at all. This was impacting our income severely. Living with my Grandma is definitely not what either of us had hopes for, but I was able to get an old truck from my out-of-state uncle to drive to and from my school back in Fraser, then to a part time job I have to help support myself so my mom doesn't have to.
Things have recently been going downhill very quickly. My mom's bone pain has worsened beyond the aid of her medication, and she decided to go on disability from work, something she NEVER wanted to do. She's slowly becoming more and more depressed now that she spends most of her days in bed, no motivation at all to push herself like she always used to. Her positive outlook isn't so positive anymore.
I'm asking you to please donate to my cause. I know as well as my mom does that this may be her last mother's day. But due to our financial situation, we have no way to create any memories before she can't anymore. Please help me raise money to help my mom and I have a great summer because this might be the last one I can spend with her.
Doctors say once you're in remission for about 5 years, the chance of cancer returning is reduced to almost nothing. However, only a few months before her 5 year cancer free anniversary, she starts getting severe pains in her sternum/chest area, thinking there could be an infection growing from one of her previous surgeries, she immediately goes to see her oncologist. The oncologist sends her for a variety of tests, MRIs, blood work, ultrasounds, you name it.
Background info: At this time we had just recently been able to move out of my Grandma's house into a middle class aparrment, changing my high school and entire social circle when we had the opprotunity. My mom had just begun a job at Henry Ford as a women's health (how ironic) medical biller and we had high hopes for the future.
After the tests were performed, more appointments were scheduled, neither of us really getting any positive or negative updates. Finally, a little bit before my 16th birthday, we were out to dinner and her phone rings. It's her doctor. They talk for awhile, the waitress waiting to take our order but I insist she waits. After around 15 minutes of my mom responding "yes," "okay," and "I understand," she hangs up and bursts into tears. Even our waitress came over to ask what was wrong. At the time, the fine details of the diagnosis were still unclear, but just as we had feared, the tests showed a cancerous mass near her sternum, along with fluid in her lungs which they weren't able to confirm contained cancer until more tests were done.
Fast forward to the full results of all her biopsies and testing, taking a couple months to complete. My mom was diagnosed with now stage 4 (the worst stage) triple negative cancer, however this time, it travelled into her bones, lungs, and almost directly to her heart and bloodstream. No surgeries can be done at this point to remove any tumors, and draining the fluid from her lungs is an expensive and painful process that doesn't seem to help anything long term. Our only hope was chemotherapy, and a lot of it.
My mom has recently went through her 50th chemo treatment, nearly 5 times the treatments she had the first time she was diagnosed. About a month ago we had no choice but to move in with my Grandma once again because even though my mom still struggled to work full time, she was finding herself in too much pain to last a whole work day, or even go into work at all. This was impacting our income severely. Living with my Grandma is definitely not what either of us had hopes for, but I was able to get an old truck from my out-of-state uncle to drive to and from my school back in Fraser, then to a part time job I have to help support myself so my mom doesn't have to.
Things have recently been going downhill very quickly. My mom's bone pain has worsened beyond the aid of her medication, and she decided to go on disability from work, something she NEVER wanted to do. She's slowly becoming more and more depressed now that she spends most of her days in bed, no motivation at all to push herself like she always used to. Her positive outlook isn't so positive anymore.
I'm asking you to please donate to my cause. I know as well as my mom does that this may be her last mother's day. But due to our financial situation, we have no way to create any memories before she can't anymore. Please help me raise money to help my mom and I have a great summer because this might be the last one I can spend with her.
Organizer and beneficiary
Briana Mulkeran
Organizer
Warren, MI
Sandra Ruthenberg-Mulkeran
Beneficiary