Med. Bills and travel money to Dr. in NC
Donation protected
My mom was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma in June 2012. While they were at their home in Florida. She went from fine one day, to a slight headache the next, to not being able to speak a few days later. She underwent surgery to have the tumor removed and 10 months of chemo and radiation. Just when we thought that maybe she was beating the odds a routine MRI in Oct. 2013 showed that the tumor had returned. My brother was killed in a car accident in 2001, and his son was getting married at the end of Oct. and she just prayed that she make it through for the wedding.
When the wedding was over we headed back to Florida to find out what the next step was. When we got to the surgeon he told us that we had basically no hope. He was not going to operate and the gamma knife may prolong and give her a better quality of life, but the tumor would take her in the end. We were all heart broken, scared and saddened.
We went to the radiologist the next day to find out about the gamma knife. It just so happened that her oncologist and her radiologist went to a seminar a few days before where there was a doctor from Duke University speaking about their polio virus trial. They could not believe what they were hearing, because everything said was like they were speaking of my mom. The doctor told us "here is your miracle". We went from having no light lost in the woods, to at least seeing some light through the trees.
The only problem was the tumor was 6 mm and needed to be 10mm to do the procedure. We got in touch with the people from Duke and made the trip from FL to NC to meet with them in mid November. All things seemed to be going into place with the exception of the fact that there was a man who was on the list before her and she needed to have a polio booster and wait 2 weeks before anything could be done. She was all but accepted on the 12th anniversary of my brothers accident. That 2 weeks end happened to be on Thanksgiving and her tumor had grown to 11mm by this point. It needed to stay 1cm away from the ventricle in order to do the procedure. When we got back down to Duke on the 1st of Dec. they did the MRI and the tumor was perfect size and location. The other patient was passed over because he did not fit the criteria medically. We prayed for him and his family. The treatment is only in the experiemental faze and there is no promise it will help, but her thought process was if it can't help me then it may help others
On Dec 2, 2013 my mom became the 10th person to have the infusion done. She is having complications where she has lost almost all her ability to communicate. She can not speak and can not write. She gets very dizzy and can hardly walk, but we pray that this will work. We will not know for several more months but her thoughts all along were if it can't help me it may help others.
My Mom and Dad have been together for more than 50 years. My Dad has done an awesome job taking care of mom, but with her complications it is very hard on both of them. It doesn't look like medicare will cover having anyone come in the house for a few hours a week, to help my mom and give them both a break. Unfortunately they can not afford to pay someone either.
The cancer care and going back and forth to Duke has taken a big financial toll on my Mom and Dad. They have taken 5 trips to NC and each trip cost them about $700.00. The 2nd trip for the surgery and infusion cost almost $2000.00 as my Mom needed to stay in NC after the procedure and we had to put the dogs in a kennel. My Dad ended up using all his money to pay and credit cards for my moms expenses and his funds have reached a critical level.
Will you please help them? It breaks our
heart to see them so worried about money, the house and all of the bills that are piling up. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give.
When the wedding was over we headed back to Florida to find out what the next step was. When we got to the surgeon he told us that we had basically no hope. He was not going to operate and the gamma knife may prolong and give her a better quality of life, but the tumor would take her in the end. We were all heart broken, scared and saddened.
We went to the radiologist the next day to find out about the gamma knife. It just so happened that her oncologist and her radiologist went to a seminar a few days before where there was a doctor from Duke University speaking about their polio virus trial. They could not believe what they were hearing, because everything said was like they were speaking of my mom. The doctor told us "here is your miracle". We went from having no light lost in the woods, to at least seeing some light through the trees.
The only problem was the tumor was 6 mm and needed to be 10mm to do the procedure. We got in touch with the people from Duke and made the trip from FL to NC to meet with them in mid November. All things seemed to be going into place with the exception of the fact that there was a man who was on the list before her and she needed to have a polio booster and wait 2 weeks before anything could be done. She was all but accepted on the 12th anniversary of my brothers accident. That 2 weeks end happened to be on Thanksgiving and her tumor had grown to 11mm by this point. It needed to stay 1cm away from the ventricle in order to do the procedure. When we got back down to Duke on the 1st of Dec. they did the MRI and the tumor was perfect size and location. The other patient was passed over because he did not fit the criteria medically. We prayed for him and his family. The treatment is only in the experiemental faze and there is no promise it will help, but her thought process was if it can't help me then it may help others
On Dec 2, 2013 my mom became the 10th person to have the infusion done. She is having complications where she has lost almost all her ability to communicate. She can not speak and can not write. She gets very dizzy and can hardly walk, but we pray that this will work. We will not know for several more months but her thoughts all along were if it can't help me it may help others.
My Mom and Dad have been together for more than 50 years. My Dad has done an awesome job taking care of mom, but with her complications it is very hard on both of them. It doesn't look like medicare will cover having anyone come in the house for a few hours a week, to help my mom and give them both a break. Unfortunately they can not afford to pay someone either.
The cancer care and going back and forth to Duke has taken a big financial toll on my Mom and Dad. They have taken 5 trips to NC and each trip cost them about $700.00. The 2nd trip for the surgery and infusion cost almost $2000.00 as my Mom needed to stay in NC after the procedure and we had to put the dogs in a kennel. My Dad ended up using all his money to pay and credit cards for my moms expenses and his funds have reached a critical level.
Will you please help them? It breaks our
heart to see them so worried about money, the house and all of the bills that are piling up. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give.
Organizer
Kimberlee Muessig Kossup
Organizer
New Smyrna Beach, FL
