This page, this request for whatever help you may be able to give, is for our friend, Vik (Viktoria). One of the smartest, strongest, bravest, and most compassionate women we know. 

Why does she need a new van, you ask? On the night of October 3rd, her van caught on fire while she and her little dog Minnie were driving to pick up the youngest of her sons. An experience made all the more terrifying by the fact that Vik uses a motorized wheelchair and can walk only a few small steps without it. Fortunately (you could say miraculously -- Vik lives in an isolated rural area of Wisconsin), a couple of passersby stopped and helped get her and Minnie out. No explosions, but the van is quite literally toast.  

Sadly, this is only the latest in Vik's ongoing trials as a still-fighting survivor of ovarian cancer. "My life was great until about seven years ago," she says. She met Jimmy, the love of her life, in Chicago in 1999. They married in their backyard in 2002 and then moved to rural Wisconsin in 2003, where they built a home and began foster parenting troubled teen boys, three of whom they adopted. 

In 2010, Vik was diagnosed with ovarian cancer; she also found she had six deteriorating discs in her lower back. That year, she had surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy. With four boys (three at home, one in college), she did the best she could using a cane as the spine condition continued to worsen. Her chemo finished in September, and she took a leave of absence from her job as a computer consultant. 

Then came another blow. That fall, Jimmy died suddenly from a brain aneurysm, leaving her to care for the boys and the small menagerie of animals they'd acquired. The following spring, the cancer returned, this time to a lung. 

Most people would have thrown in the towel at this point, but Vik continued to foster kids in need until 2015. By then she was in a wheelchair but still undaunted until one of the boys (6'4" and 300 lbs) attacked her in the yard. With great sadness, she closed her foster care license. Funny thing is, it wasn't a "bad kid" that forced that decision; it was her disability. Vik will still be the very first person to tell you that every kid is worth trying to save.

Now, she can't work and has no income except disability insurance. She still has one son at home, a high school senior, and they are facing a financial cliff. This past April, five years since her last recurrence, the cancer showed up again, this time in both lungs. "I am in chemo again, for an undetermined time frame," she says. Since ovarian cancer does not get "cured," Vik will continue the chemo as long as she can tolerate it. 

All her life, Vik has been a strong, independent woman. She's given her all to help others see and reach for a brighter future for themselves. 

We think it's time the universe gave a little back. And guess what, you guys? We are that universe. 

For $25,000, we could get her a used converted wheelchair van. For $50,000 - $60,000, we could get her something newer/ and more reliable. Anything beyond that would likely go to just paying medical bills. We are hoping to raise the funds in the next month.

It breaks our hearts that Vik has had to go through so much of this on her own. If we could help her with this one thing, she would at least know how many people care and are pulling for her right now.

Thanks for considering this. Your support right now could make a really dark time in her life a whole lot brighter.