Angie's Medical Miracle Fund
Donation protected
My name is Mary Ann McNamara and I am making this appeal on behalf of my dear friend, Angie Ibeh. In addition to being a supportive friend, Angie is a devoted wife, loving mother, extraordinary nurse, and faithful Christian. In these roles, she has given so much to so many—family, friends, work colleagues, and even strangers. I am making the appeal on Angie’s behalf because she is a proud and independent woman who hates to burden others and is embarrassed to ask for help herself.
Those of you who know Angie personally will remember that she was diagnosed in 2007 with thymus gland cancer. Because the thymus gland, part of the body’s immune system, is located in a space between the lungs and just above the heart, Angie’s cancer had spread to her lungs and chest wall and was wrapped around her aorta. The cancer is a rare one and was already very extensive by the time it was discovered; doctors at Dana Farber and Massachusetts General were not optimistic that she would survive very long, with or without treatment. But Angie, always positive and optimistic, was confident she would survive. She had three little girls, ages 2, 7, and 10 years old at the time, who needed her, so she would do whatever was necessary to conquer this cancer. And, while she respected the expertise of the physicians, she relied more heavily on her confidence in God: “I will die on the day God has prescribed,” she said, and she was sure that God was not going to take her away from her little girls so soon.
Angie underwent 14 weeks chemotherapy and extensive surgery to remove her thymus gland, entire left lung and the cancer from her chest wall and aorta. She was right: God wasn’t ready to take her yet. The doctors decided to treat it with 16 weeks of radiation and then just monitor the spot with periodic CT scans and begin chemotherapy only if it became bigger. The spot didn’t grow for 6 years—which Angie attributes to God, complementary therapy, and the love and support of her family and wonderful friends. This doesn’t mean that she was symptom-free. She had chronic pain, difficulty with swallowing and speech due to damage to a vocal cord that the cancer had pressed on, and was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that commonly occurs in those with thymus cancer. It causes muscle weakness that affects movement and activity tolerance, eye movement/vision, swallowing, speaking, and breathing. These conditions required various surgeries and medicines, including periodic IV infusions, and resulted in significant medical costs, but Angie didn’t care: she was alive, enjoying her husband's company and teaching and watching their girls growing up together.
In 2013, Angie was forced to stop complementary therapy due to the costs which she and her husband had had to cover entirely out of pocket on one pay check since Angie hasn't been able to go back to work. In 2014, the “spot” began gradually growing and there was also a new spot found in her spine. The doctors felt that the tumor was inoperable, and decided to give Angie to more chemo and radiation, which shrunk the tumors. Things seemed to stabilize.
In the recent months of 2016, however, she has had more shortness of breath, a frequent cough, increased fatigue, increasing trouble swallowing and weight loss. Tests showed that that tiny “spot” had grown significantly and is now pressing on the major airways supplying Angie’s only remaining lung. In fact, one of the three lobes of the lung has completely collapsed. So Angie will be restarting a combination of chemo and radiation at Mass General again while also traveling there on other days to receive infusions to treat her myasthenia gravis.
Angie’s girls are now 11, 16, and 19 years old, but they still need their Mommy. Angie wants--needs--to see them grow into happy, successful, contributing members of society and to know that they are safe and secure, by God's grace. She is praying for another miracle. She wants to restart complementary therapy again, and she will need money to do that as well as to continue paying the many medical bills that have accrued over the years, the new ones that will arise, the costs of commuting to & parking in Boston on treatment days, plus the added college cost for the girls. I am asking you to help make this miracle come true by making a donation of any amount to this fund on Angie’s behalf. Please share it with friends, too. Not surprisingly, GoFundMe says the fundraising campaigns that reach the most people are the most successful. Having a large circle of friends is one key to reaching those people, but since Angie's entire family (other than her husband and children) and many of her friends are in her native Nigeria and many are not on Facebook, she doesn’t have a huge circle of online friends. Your sharing will help her reach more people, even strangers who may be willing to help in honor of a loved one who experienced cancer or as a “random act of kindness.” Ask them to share, too—we are, after all, trying to make a miracle happen which is going to take the help of many! If you can’t donate, then please pray for Angie’s miracle so that she can have more time to be with her girls.
If you prefer to donate by check, you can mail them to:
Angie’s Miracle Fund
3 Brookside Street
Lowell, MA 01854
Thank you for your time, for spreading the word, and for any donations and/or prayers you make on Angie’s behalf. May God richly reward and bless you.
Those of you who know Angie personally will remember that she was diagnosed in 2007 with thymus gland cancer. Because the thymus gland, part of the body’s immune system, is located in a space between the lungs and just above the heart, Angie’s cancer had spread to her lungs and chest wall and was wrapped around her aorta. The cancer is a rare one and was already very extensive by the time it was discovered; doctors at Dana Farber and Massachusetts General were not optimistic that she would survive very long, with or without treatment. But Angie, always positive and optimistic, was confident she would survive. She had three little girls, ages 2, 7, and 10 years old at the time, who needed her, so she would do whatever was necessary to conquer this cancer. And, while she respected the expertise of the physicians, she relied more heavily on her confidence in God: “I will die on the day God has prescribed,” she said, and she was sure that God was not going to take her away from her little girls so soon.
Angie underwent 14 weeks chemotherapy and extensive surgery to remove her thymus gland, entire left lung and the cancer from her chest wall and aorta. She was right: God wasn’t ready to take her yet. The doctors decided to treat it with 16 weeks of radiation and then just monitor the spot with periodic CT scans and begin chemotherapy only if it became bigger. The spot didn’t grow for 6 years—which Angie attributes to God, complementary therapy, and the love and support of her family and wonderful friends. This doesn’t mean that she was symptom-free. She had chronic pain, difficulty with swallowing and speech due to damage to a vocal cord that the cancer had pressed on, and was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that commonly occurs in those with thymus cancer. It causes muscle weakness that affects movement and activity tolerance, eye movement/vision, swallowing, speaking, and breathing. These conditions required various surgeries and medicines, including periodic IV infusions, and resulted in significant medical costs, but Angie didn’t care: she was alive, enjoying her husband's company and teaching and watching their girls growing up together.
In 2013, Angie was forced to stop complementary therapy due to the costs which she and her husband had had to cover entirely out of pocket on one pay check since Angie hasn't been able to go back to work. In 2014, the “spot” began gradually growing and there was also a new spot found in her spine. The doctors felt that the tumor was inoperable, and decided to give Angie to more chemo and radiation, which shrunk the tumors. Things seemed to stabilize.
In the recent months of 2016, however, she has had more shortness of breath, a frequent cough, increased fatigue, increasing trouble swallowing and weight loss. Tests showed that that tiny “spot” had grown significantly and is now pressing on the major airways supplying Angie’s only remaining lung. In fact, one of the three lobes of the lung has completely collapsed. So Angie will be restarting a combination of chemo and radiation at Mass General again while also traveling there on other days to receive infusions to treat her myasthenia gravis.
Angie’s girls are now 11, 16, and 19 years old, but they still need their Mommy. Angie wants--needs--to see them grow into happy, successful, contributing members of society and to know that they are safe and secure, by God's grace. She is praying for another miracle. She wants to restart complementary therapy again, and she will need money to do that as well as to continue paying the many medical bills that have accrued over the years, the new ones that will arise, the costs of commuting to & parking in Boston on treatment days, plus the added college cost for the girls. I am asking you to help make this miracle come true by making a donation of any amount to this fund on Angie’s behalf. Please share it with friends, too. Not surprisingly, GoFundMe says the fundraising campaigns that reach the most people are the most successful. Having a large circle of friends is one key to reaching those people, but since Angie's entire family (other than her husband and children) and many of her friends are in her native Nigeria and many are not on Facebook, she doesn’t have a huge circle of online friends. Your sharing will help her reach more people, even strangers who may be willing to help in honor of a loved one who experienced cancer or as a “random act of kindness.” Ask them to share, too—we are, after all, trying to make a miracle happen which is going to take the help of many! If you can’t donate, then please pray for Angie’s miracle so that she can have more time to be with her girls.
If you prefer to donate by check, you can mail them to:
Angie’s Miracle Fund
3 Brookside Street
Lowell, MA 01854
Thank you for your time, for spreading the word, and for any donations and/or prayers you make on Angie’s behalf. May God richly reward and bless you.
Organizer and beneficiary
Mary Sky Mac
Organizer
Lowell, MA
"Angie" Ifesinachi Ibeh
Beneficiary