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Hi friends! This is our mom Michelle, she has a long journey ahead of her and we would love for you to join us along, here is her story.
“In November 2017 I was diagnosed with pre-cancerous tumor in my mouth. Two weeks later I had surgery to remove the affected bone and gum tissue. Unfortunately the pathology report came back & it was cancer. I went for a consult at Jackson South accepted as a patient by the leading specialist in the type of cancer I have & his exceptional surgical teams. My 2nd surgery was scheduled 2 weeks later. They removed more of the bone & gum tissue & a nerve that was affected also. I had tissue, skin & a nerve removed from my arm to replace what was removed from my mouth. As a precautionary measure they removed all my lymph nodes. I’m grateful they took that measure, but if I’m honest it was very hard regaining the strength & movement in my neck & still have some issues. The graft on my arm was difficult to heal and in April I had to have another surgery to repair the skin graft. I was able to go home with a wound vac on my wrist & after several weeks the wrist finally healed. During all of this, I’ve never thought “why me?” how could I? That would mean I felt someone else should deal with it instead of me. I don’t know why it happened, but everything happens for a reason. I have met so many wonderful caring people that have brought so much joy into my life. I’m grateful & blessed to have the strength to go thru this. If it wasn’t for the generosity of my coworkers in donating time & gas money-I would’ve lost my healthy insurance. And without being able to work, I had no income coming in. It was very difficult especially without full movement of my wrist, but I was able to finish the last month of work. Then the process of occupational therapy started to regain movement of my wrist. Lol talk about torture, but every movement is something to be celebrated!! I was grateful for my health! Just this week I noticed my mouth was swelling & my jaw became sore...it was then I was told the cancer had returned more aggressively. My next surgery unfortunately will consist of removing the gum tissue that was replaced in my mouth, my left lower jaw & the infected nerve again. They will remove part of my tibia bone to re-create my jaw and another skin graft from my leg to replace the tissue in my mouth. This time the nerve will be replaced with a cadaver nerve. Since the cancer came back more aggressively I will also receive radiation treatment. It was very hard, to see the changes in my body but each new scar represents a fight that I went thru & I’m truly grateful & blessed to have the strength, love & support from so many amazing people! And besides I’m a modern day bionic woman! This is only making me stronger!! God Bless! ❤️
During this time I will not be able to go back to work until doctors say so. Unfortunately insurance does not cover much of her treatment costs, please help our mom Michelle with whatever you can to help offset her rising medical bills.
“In November 2017 I was diagnosed with pre-cancerous tumor in my mouth. Two weeks later I had surgery to remove the affected bone and gum tissue. Unfortunately the pathology report came back & it was cancer. I went for a consult at Jackson South accepted as a patient by the leading specialist in the type of cancer I have & his exceptional surgical teams. My 2nd surgery was scheduled 2 weeks later. They removed more of the bone & gum tissue & a nerve that was affected also. I had tissue, skin & a nerve removed from my arm to replace what was removed from my mouth. As a precautionary measure they removed all my lymph nodes. I’m grateful they took that measure, but if I’m honest it was very hard regaining the strength & movement in my neck & still have some issues. The graft on my arm was difficult to heal and in April I had to have another surgery to repair the skin graft. I was able to go home with a wound vac on my wrist & after several weeks the wrist finally healed. During all of this, I’ve never thought “why me?” how could I? That would mean I felt someone else should deal with it instead of me. I don’t know why it happened, but everything happens for a reason. I have met so many wonderful caring people that have brought so much joy into my life. I’m grateful & blessed to have the strength to go thru this. If it wasn’t for the generosity of my coworkers in donating time & gas money-I would’ve lost my healthy insurance. And without being able to work, I had no income coming in. It was very difficult especially without full movement of my wrist, but I was able to finish the last month of work. Then the process of occupational therapy started to regain movement of my wrist. Lol talk about torture, but every movement is something to be celebrated!! I was grateful for my health! Just this week I noticed my mouth was swelling & my jaw became sore...it was then I was told the cancer had returned more aggressively. My next surgery unfortunately will consist of removing the gum tissue that was replaced in my mouth, my left lower jaw & the infected nerve again. They will remove part of my tibia bone to re-create my jaw and another skin graft from my leg to replace the tissue in my mouth. This time the nerve will be replaced with a cadaver nerve. Since the cancer came back more aggressively I will also receive radiation treatment. It was very hard, to see the changes in my body but each new scar represents a fight that I went thru & I’m truly grateful & blessed to have the strength, love & support from so many amazing people! And besides I’m a modern day bionic woman! This is only making me stronger!! God Bless! ❤️
During this time I will not be able to go back to work until doctors say so. Unfortunately insurance does not cover much of her treatment costs, please help our mom Michelle with whatever you can to help offset her rising medical bills.