Setting Twee-ty Bird Free

Thuy (Map) Than was a perfectly healthy 28 year old with a whole life ahead of her. She worked as an occupational therapist at Lancaster General Hospital (LGH), helped coach volleyball, helped to raise her niece and nephews and always found time to travel to her heart’s desire (never returning without a surplus of souvenirs to share). However, as we all know, 2020 hit... Work became taxing during the peak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and her wanderlust was extra restless due to the pandemic canceling her most anticipated trip to Japan. So she began a new adventure, she signed a lease to live in a single-bedroom apartment, stocked full of newly purchased kitchenware to compliment her love for cooking, especially for others. But 2020 continued to deliver the punches...

On May 24, Map called her sister, Thuy (Lon), complaining of stomach (abdominal) pain. Lon took Map to LGH Emergency Room (ER), where they referred her to a Gastrointestinal (GI) Specialist. The GI Specialist scheduled a colonoscopy (Colo) and a esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD-examines the esophagus, stomach and small intestine) for a later date.

On June 3, still awaiting her procedure date, Map experienced more severe abdominal pain. She was taken to the ER again, where they rescheduled her Colo and EGD to an earlier date.

On June 10, Map went in to have the procedures done. Through the EGD, they collected tissue samples to determine if a disease was present. However, they experienced complications performing the Colo due to a colonic stricter that prevented them from seeing her entire colon.

On June 18, Map was admitted to the hospital for her continued abdominal pain. They performed an emergency surgery, where they discovered tumors all over her abdominal wall. As a result, they inserted a J-tube (to deliver food and medicine) and performed an ileostomy (to remove waste and gas).

On June 23, Map was discharged from the hospital. Forced to break her lease, she had to move in with Lon.

On June 26, Map had her first visit with her oncologist, where she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Gastric Cancer.

On June 30, Map went back to the ER due to pain and was admitted back into the hospital. They found fluid buildup in her abdomen, which they were able to remove. She was discharged on July 9.

On July 15, Map had her first chemotherapy treatment.

From then, Map continued living an adjusted life with rounds of chemo treatment. Due to COVID-19, she was limited on whom she could see. So weekly family meals and videochats with friends were cherished. Meanwhile, some of those amazing friends initiated the daunting challenge of fundraising. They outpoured so much love and support towards her, totally exceeding any expectation her family could have dreamed of in such a short amount of time. We knew we had to come up with a way to thank everyone.

On October 3, we held a thank you celebration for her support system to gather and create more memories. It was a beautiful day! Thuy was herself: laughing, reminiscing, enjoying masked face-to-face interactions and of course, making sure everyone ate plenty and took food home.

On October 6, Map had her 7th chemo treatment.

On October 12 at 3:00 am, while going to the restroom, Map fell due to a drop in her blood pressure. Lon heard her fall and rushed her to the ER immediately. They performed a Computerized Tomography (CT) scan of Map’s abdomen, which did not show any abnormalities. She did have more fluid buildup, which they removed. While there, she had on and off vomiting.

On October 15, Map was vomitting too much so they performed another CT scan of her abdomen, which showed an obstruction.

On October 16, they prepared to perform an emergency surgery. Lon had spoken with Map beforehand, giving everyone the impression that she would possibly get a small bowel resection due to the obstruction. While performing the surgery, they discovered a hole in her small intestine and that the disease had spread all over.

Prior to surgery, Map had aspirated. So she is currently on a vent to help her breathe. And because of the vent, she has to be sedated. While on the vent, she has been able to respond to the nurse’s questions by nodding. She has squeezed their hands, briefly opened her eyes and has tried to sit up. However, we were informed that her body cannot handle any more surgeries and that treatment is no longer an option, therefore she has limited time on this earth.

Due to COVID-19, the hospital policy only allows the same two people to visit, Lon and Aileen (best fram). Our hope right now is that Map can begin to breathe on her own so that the vent can be removed and that her infection can be managed so that she can leave the hospital and we can focus on quality of life.

For those whom personally knew Map but didn’t know about her cancer, please understand that she had every intention to tell you. She had plans to get better, to manage the cancer and to share this information with more people. Unfortunately, her health took a turn for the worse and now we must break the terrible news.

During this time, please respect Map’s family and friends as they continue to navigate through these challenging times. We will provide you with as many updates as possible through this page. But for everything that has been done up until now and onward, we want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, support and generosity.

Donations to help for medical bills and anticipated funeral costs.
*** If you would like to donate, but do not want to utilize GoFundMe, you can also Venmo: @Thuy-Than