Help with paying for my wife’s funeral
Donation protected
The story of my loving wife Virginia Bridgman or Ginny to all her friends. Ginny is still with us for now by the grace of God but she is in Hospice and declining
Before cancer I was an athlete. I was strong. I walked an average of 8-10 miles a day. There was practically nothing I couldn’t do for myself or for my family. I lived in Saint Augustine, Florida. I worked out at the gym, I walked and would take on the steps of the Light House with lightning speed. I was very independent and very strong. I was first diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer 11 years ago in late 2009. The doctor did a test to see if the cancer spread to my lymph nodes. She was very excited when she said how fortunate I was that the Sentinel lymph node was not affected under my arm meaning my lymph nodes were not affected, which meant the cancer was localized to the breast.
After surgery the surgeon told me that the cancer went around the Sentinal lymph node and seventeen lymph nodes were affected and had to be removed.
I went home with tubes wrapped in loops on both sides where my breasts were removed to drain fluids. The cancer was in the right breast. I decided to have the left one removed. I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
After six weeks of draining into little containers that you have to keep a record of I started chemo and radiation.
Eight very strong chemo treatments and 42 radiation treatments later I was told by my oncologist I was cured. This was early 2010.
I remember laying there and I couldn’t wait to start walking long distances and working out for this is how I managed stress. I would think to myself,in a week I will feel better. Being a strong woman physically gave me the ability to help people. I waited and waited. Mostly I was in bed resting for almost a year. I slowly started to understand I was never going to be the same physical ever again.
Eventually a different kind of normal was my routine. I had days I could do things and I had days I could do nothing but rest. I couldn’t make plans or promises because I never knew what my body could tolerate until I woke up and either could get up or had to just use the bathroom and go straight back to bed for the day.
Four years later I was diagnosed with lymphodema. In both arms and in my right leg. When I used my arms they would swell because my lymph nodes had been severed after the surgery and the fluid from the severed lymph nodes would pool in my arms.
I developed neuropathy in my legs and could feel nothing in my chest area from all the severed nerves. I also became diabetic.I remember walking out into the yard and my son would say, “mom, there’s ant’s all over your legs”. I couldn’t feel their bites.
The chemo gave me congestive heart failure that was diagnosed approximately four years ago in 2016 although, I suspect I had it long before that. I worked very hard at my diet and exercised when I had the energy. I worked and persevered everyday pushing myself to do more. To try to stay active. To help others. Just because my body was no longer strong it did not mean my mind was weak. I decided I would not eat carbs anymore. My diabetes went away and mentally I was stronger. I could mentally figure out complicated problems for myself and others!
One of the hardest things for me to accept was that I could no longer work.
I loved work. I excelled in my work and took great pride in caring about my work.
Every job I had I performed my daily commitment with a sense of duty and just loved work. It took me over two years to deal with the fact that although I wanted to go back to work and make a difference...I could not.
I focused on listening to my intuition about life,people and the world. I meditated and became attuned to everything around me.
I ate all the right foods, I stayed positive, I served my community and just did whatever I could do to help. When I younger I was an EMT and worked with the Military as a volunteer.
The cancer came back in 2017. It was found at the dermatologist because it grew at the same original site on my chest wall on top of my skin. It was a little bright red looking protrusion. A breast cancer surgeon removed everything they could. She said they was a small spot on my sternum but there was nothing they could do because it was so close to my heart.
Now it is back for the third time and I can do no treatment because the first treatment gave me congestive heart failure.
Sometimes I feel frustrated because I did everything I was suppose to do and I had the cancer 3 times. I was 42 when I was first diagnosed. I did everything I thought was healthily. Low carbs, water restricted, watch salt intake. I worked at it every single day.
Now my body is in Cachexia. I have lost approximately 80 unintentional pounds in 10 moths which is the end result of a disease like cancer. I am in Hospice. I am dying. I am on oxygen and I have to take medication for my heart and the pain that is increasingly getting worse.
I am mostly bedridden and have multiple issues daily.
I need help with my funeral and burial expenses as I personally do not have the funds.
My family are all gone except my husband and my son. My son is disabled and my partner has had the weight on his shoulders with many things. I understand he does not have the means for a proper burial and I know he is holding himself together the best he can for we are are not only partners, we are best friends.
I do not want to burden him with this because he does so much for me.
I am Anglican Christian and cannot be cremated. I have tried to put my thoughts towards it but it doesn’t sit right with me. I believe in being buried and my body going back to nature naturally. I have prayed and understand fully this is my last wish.
I feel silly asking people for help when most of my life I was the strong one. The truth seeker. The only Father I have known is my Spiritual Father. Some call him God. I’m sure he has many names. He is my Father and I love him more than anything. He has bestowed upon me knowledge and wisdom that can only come from him. He has been with me every step of the way. Without him I would be totally lost. I believe even our bones and flesh are important to him. Even in death.
The best I can find at the most reasonable price for a funeral and burial is about 5,400.00. This is a lot of money I know. I am eternally grateful for anyone who may help me to honor me by helping pay for my funeral and burial.
Headstones are extra. A head stone costs between 1,200 to 3,000.
I would like my headstone to say my name as well as wife,mother and child of God.
Thank you and God bless you eternally for blessing me with this hard task.
I have fought this disease for over 11 years now and it is a victory I have achieved great victories. This is not a loss it is a going home and a celebration of my life which has been amazing in many ways.
My husband Edward will handle getting any donated funds to the final funeral home and cemetery I end up selecting.
God bless you 100 fold and thank you for helping me. If more money is raised than needed for my funeral then the excess will be donated to Breast Cancer research.
Ginny
Before cancer I was an athlete. I was strong. I walked an average of 8-10 miles a day. There was practically nothing I couldn’t do for myself or for my family. I lived in Saint Augustine, Florida. I worked out at the gym, I walked and would take on the steps of the Light House with lightning speed. I was very independent and very strong. I was first diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer 11 years ago in late 2009. The doctor did a test to see if the cancer spread to my lymph nodes. She was very excited when she said how fortunate I was that the Sentinel lymph node was not affected under my arm meaning my lymph nodes were not affected, which meant the cancer was localized to the breast.
After surgery the surgeon told me that the cancer went around the Sentinal lymph node and seventeen lymph nodes were affected and had to be removed.
I went home with tubes wrapped in loops on both sides where my breasts were removed to drain fluids. The cancer was in the right breast. I decided to have the left one removed. I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
After six weeks of draining into little containers that you have to keep a record of I started chemo and radiation.
Eight very strong chemo treatments and 42 radiation treatments later I was told by my oncologist I was cured. This was early 2010.
I remember laying there and I couldn’t wait to start walking long distances and working out for this is how I managed stress. I would think to myself,in a week I will feel better. Being a strong woman physically gave me the ability to help people. I waited and waited. Mostly I was in bed resting for almost a year. I slowly started to understand I was never going to be the same physical ever again.
Eventually a different kind of normal was my routine. I had days I could do things and I had days I could do nothing but rest. I couldn’t make plans or promises because I never knew what my body could tolerate until I woke up and either could get up or had to just use the bathroom and go straight back to bed for the day.
Four years later I was diagnosed with lymphodema. In both arms and in my right leg. When I used my arms they would swell because my lymph nodes had been severed after the surgery and the fluid from the severed lymph nodes would pool in my arms.
I developed neuropathy in my legs and could feel nothing in my chest area from all the severed nerves. I also became diabetic.I remember walking out into the yard and my son would say, “mom, there’s ant’s all over your legs”. I couldn’t feel their bites.
The chemo gave me congestive heart failure that was diagnosed approximately four years ago in 2016 although, I suspect I had it long before that. I worked very hard at my diet and exercised when I had the energy. I worked and persevered everyday pushing myself to do more. To try to stay active. To help others. Just because my body was no longer strong it did not mean my mind was weak. I decided I would not eat carbs anymore. My diabetes went away and mentally I was stronger. I could mentally figure out complicated problems for myself and others!
One of the hardest things for me to accept was that I could no longer work.
I loved work. I excelled in my work and took great pride in caring about my work.
Every job I had I performed my daily commitment with a sense of duty and just loved work. It took me over two years to deal with the fact that although I wanted to go back to work and make a difference...I could not.
I focused on listening to my intuition about life,people and the world. I meditated and became attuned to everything around me.
I ate all the right foods, I stayed positive, I served my community and just did whatever I could do to help. When I younger I was an EMT and worked with the Military as a volunteer.
The cancer came back in 2017. It was found at the dermatologist because it grew at the same original site on my chest wall on top of my skin. It was a little bright red looking protrusion. A breast cancer surgeon removed everything they could. She said they was a small spot on my sternum but there was nothing they could do because it was so close to my heart.
Now it is back for the third time and I can do no treatment because the first treatment gave me congestive heart failure.
Sometimes I feel frustrated because I did everything I was suppose to do and I had the cancer 3 times. I was 42 when I was first diagnosed. I did everything I thought was healthily. Low carbs, water restricted, watch salt intake. I worked at it every single day.
Now my body is in Cachexia. I have lost approximately 80 unintentional pounds in 10 moths which is the end result of a disease like cancer. I am in Hospice. I am dying. I am on oxygen and I have to take medication for my heart and the pain that is increasingly getting worse.
I am mostly bedridden and have multiple issues daily.
I need help with my funeral and burial expenses as I personally do not have the funds.
My family are all gone except my husband and my son. My son is disabled and my partner has had the weight on his shoulders with many things. I understand he does not have the means for a proper burial and I know he is holding himself together the best he can for we are are not only partners, we are best friends.
I do not want to burden him with this because he does so much for me.
I am Anglican Christian and cannot be cremated. I have tried to put my thoughts towards it but it doesn’t sit right with me. I believe in being buried and my body going back to nature naturally. I have prayed and understand fully this is my last wish.
I feel silly asking people for help when most of my life I was the strong one. The truth seeker. The only Father I have known is my Spiritual Father. Some call him God. I’m sure he has many names. He is my Father and I love him more than anything. He has bestowed upon me knowledge and wisdom that can only come from him. He has been with me every step of the way. Without him I would be totally lost. I believe even our bones and flesh are important to him. Even in death.
The best I can find at the most reasonable price for a funeral and burial is about 5,400.00. This is a lot of money I know. I am eternally grateful for anyone who may help me to honor me by helping pay for my funeral and burial.
Headstones are extra. A head stone costs between 1,200 to 3,000.
I would like my headstone to say my name as well as wife,mother and child of God.
Thank you and God bless you eternally for blessing me with this hard task.
I have fought this disease for over 11 years now and it is a victory I have achieved great victories. This is not a loss it is a going home and a celebration of my life which has been amazing in many ways.
My husband Edward will handle getting any donated funds to the final funeral home and cemetery I end up selecting.
God bless you 100 fold and thank you for helping me. If more money is raised than needed for my funeral then the excess will be donated to Breast Cancer research.
Ginny
Organizer
Edward Marcellus
Organizer
Jacksonville, FL