Expanding Support for Team Ondreah

This is Ondreah's friend Edie giving you an update.  Her journey is continuing. She had been responding well to 
treatment for Triple Negative Breast Cancer (a rare type that impacts 3-10% of patients) combining 
mainstream medical, nutritional and complimentary therapies. Those who know her and have been following her
experiences are aware that her attitude and support are solid. 

All signs looked good for her recovery and then she began experiencing pain near her right rib that sent her back
for more tests and it was discovered that like many with that form of cancer, it had progressed to Stage 4. She has
powerfully upped her game, intensifying treatment. The first round of chemotherapy was a little 'hairy'. She started a new treatment that along with stress, landed her in the hospital several times with cardiac arrhythmia (atrial
fibrillation). She is now in a clinical trial at the University of Pennsylvania and is what her docs are saying, "Living
with cancer."


What people may not consider beyond the medical implications of pain, nausea, fatigue, sleeplessness, depression and anxiety, are the activities of household upkeep, caring for her cats, and paying her bills. She has not worked as a home care nurse since the end of 2016. 

Compounding that is that she needs to move from her home and has been looking for affordable housing that
meets her physical needs as well. She had been looking intensively over the summer and then was faced with this
latest crisis. The clock is ticking....

We are re-launching the campaign, so note that the money raised was from a while back. If you have already
donated, bless you for your kindness. If you are able to add something, she would deeply appreciate it. If you have
not done so, she welcomes you (and I strongly encourage you) to be generous in whatever way you can. Every little bit helps. Please also share this with your friends who may be able to help out.

Although prayers and good thoughts are essential, so too is financial assistance, so she can have peace of mind as
she looks for work she can do from home in service as a home care nurse. She has been putting her focus forward 
and would benefit from this boost. 

As someone who is on 'both ends of the stethoscope,' as a medical professional and patient, she knows how
important it is to keep spirits up.

Please help her do that.

Like many givers, Ondreah has a hard time asking for help and support, so I'm doing it for her! 

Here is her original posting, so you know the history.


Life, it's all about the journey  isn't it?  I used to move along  day after day just getting through life's dramas and traumas. I realize I used to think that life was getting in my way, as the years moved on down the path I started to wonder where I was getting in my own way in life !  Many say when something BIG hits their life it's a Spiritual wake up call....  I wish I had a different saying all my own.  And I don't... This IS a HUGE opening INTO my life like never before.  While I want to be special, who doesn't want to feel special? This is not the kind of special I was 'thinking' about. I was thinking and contemplating the special of being in service and what I bring to the world through my gifts.

Everybody's story begins somewhere doesn't it?  Could be we all could  go back to the beginning of our decision to 'be' here ( if you believe in that).  My Spiritual teachers say we are all born with a Wish and a Mision upon our Heart placed there by The One, ( use what ever word you are called to use when you contemplate God). When I first heard about this 'wish upon my heart',I thought it must be nursing for I've been a nurse for a long time.  However over the last many years my passion and desire to be 'a nurse' , to be part of this medical system, a system which is moving all of us farther away from the patient/person who is in front of us , has diminished greatly. I have experienced just like so many of my 'patients' the turmoil inside and out when faced with a physical medical issue and one finds no relief or support in finding the ways to better live with and thrive within it. I am not once again experiencing that very same part of the path. I have watched as more and more work environments are run by the 'rules of engagement' , what medicare/ or any insurance wants , the paper trail, the computer notes, the timing of getting things done, the don't spend so much time with your clients, the you tell them too much, yet you must document you teach every visit, the hurry up and get the patient / client on service and then discharge, only to 'get the next one'. I know in my deep Heart that IS not the way to healing and despite my trying to 'make it work' for me , I find there are so many environments that I don't fit into any longer. 

This creation of 'unhealthy tissue' in my Left Breast brings to my awareness and invites me to dive deep into what have I been doing? where have I been? what have I allowed in/into my life? do I let love in? have I let others really love me? what do I want? where do I want to live? how do I want to Live and express MY wish upon my Heart , my Mission and gifts given by The One?

I could go back way before this even before I moved to PA in 2003. Or to the time when I first bought this house in 2005 only to find it all start the slide down the foreclosure slope in 2008. Or perhaps the years that followed as I found my way through house issues, financial issues and medical changes. 

While I may not have to go back that far here, at the same time I am Very aware of how all those steps along the way are the very beginning of This Journey now.. My life path.

This part of my journey began in October 2012, with some 'odd change' that left me with leg issues for 4 years. By the end of the summer of 2016 despite all my nursing training and all my best efforts with asking questions and seeking what I thought was the best support from our medical system I found myself being told I now needed a new right hip joint!  The fall of 2016 found me in preparation for hip surgery on December 6, 2016. With just the right people and just the right timing I found just the right doctors and hospital and found my way into creating my health care system and support. Surgery day was amazing and the entire process and recovery was incredible. There is much to share on that another time.  I Know I was being supported and guided along the way !

It was during this healing time from my hip surgery that I became sick with whatever respiratory bug was going around. On Christmas night I was up frequently due to a severe cough. During one particular intense coughing period I placed my right hand on my left breast and there I found a lump!
My mind jumped wildly!  Terrified, I lay there coughing, feeling sick and now feeling full out terror run through my body. My New Year began with a multitude of tests and the answer was Yes "you have breast C'. I am choosing to not use the words that most medical people do. At least I am trying to not use those words. It is challenging as there are no other words people use and the words we are all used to harbor visions of fear and terminal illness of terrible side effects and loss. 
I began my treatment in Feb 2017 and it consisted of two intense IV medications given together every two weeks for a total of 4 doses. I've just had my last session of these and I know in my Heart I will not repeat them again. 

The doctors tell me my next phase is a different weekly IV medicine with less side effects (so they say) and the anticipated length of time is 12 weeks! Then surgery  ( which could be in July 2017) to remove whatever may be remaining and then radiation for six weeks. While I have cared for others who have or were going through this process I was never truly aware of just how much this moving through'treatments'  just sucks the very breath out of you. You suddenly find  yourself mentally , emotionally, physically engaged every moment In this process of getting through each day.  Your energy is used up just thinking of things and how to manage your day to day life !

I am still in recovery from hip surgery and that is going well even though I have not been able to do the out patient therapy to the degree I had hoped as I have been feeling so ill these past 8 weeks. I am presently on short term disability and am probably going to have to file for a new claim. All this takes time, of course. I am also in the process of seeking new medical insurance as my present insurance ends at the end of May.  And to add to the adventure, there is a high probability of my having to move at the end of the summer!

It took me some time to come to the internal agreement that I was needing hip surgery. This is no different. I found myself  inundated with tests and Dr appointments in January and by February agreeing to treatments and suddenly everything took off.  These past 2 months have been the most challenging physically as there has not been a moment, a second, a day where I not felt the range of nausea to queasy , never mind the other physical side affects.

IN my Heart I know this is a path I must walk. And while I must walk it alone on some level at the same time I  can not walk this without YOU!  I need my community, friends, family and Spiritual support around me.  While I may feel some doubt at times if I can really manage all these treatments til the end of the summer. I am aware of a deeper calling to seeing this through and I know in my Heart and Soul that any treatment can not be done by the medical system alone.  We need to , I NEED TO include complementary support. And all of those therapies and support are not covered by medical insurance.  

I am grateful for the insurance I do have, and when it changes I have no idea of what actually will be covered. I already have bills coming in over $80,000! Thank God for whatever insurance is available !
These funds, whatever they may be will support me in continuing with my complementary therapies as well as support me in meeting the monthly costs associated with this journey over the next 6-7 months.

Everyone speaks of stress and how it impacts
our healing. Despite my understanding of so much within me through  my own years of personal work and clearings, I now know this first hand in ways I had not imagined I would. These funds what ever they  will be  will be a great support in relieving added stress during a time when I need all my energy and focus for healing and recovery.

I know in my Heart that this journey is here to teach me something , to bring me deeper into my Heart and to show me the ways I am to be of service and a healer in support of others  in an entirely different way.  There is a great awakening and rebirthing occurring for me. I have no idea what, or how that will appear and yet I sense this creation within me.

Please donate what you can. Every bit helps. I have so much more work to do in the world and can better do it from a place of strength and healing. Please feel free to share this with others who may be able to contribute as well.

Thank you for your love and kindness and generosity. 

Ondreah Ruth