Hi friends

I’m Britt, Abbie’s daughter. I’m raising funds to help cover the costs of my moms recent cancer diagnosis, hospitalizations, and end of life care as we head down this road. Here is her story since March until now:

On March 3rd, we were admitted to the hospital due to Abbie developing acute (overnight) severe jaundice of her skin, eyes, etc. After a few hours & testing, Medical City Las Colinas recommended she be transferred to Medical City Plano so they would be able to support her level of care.

On March 10th Abbie was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.

For those who have been along this journey with us, you’re aware of the hoops we jumped through. The initial cancer diagnosis indicated there was a pancreatic tumor that could be resected, and that the spots on her liver were benign. We now know that was incorrect, a false negative, and had some follow up tests with her oncologist. PET scans, CT scans, MRIs, etc. Due to multiple hospitalizations & ER visits due to her failing health within this timeframe, it took us a few weeks to get all the tests we needed done.

On May 24th we revived the conclusive diagnosis of Stage 4 Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer affecting pancreas, liver, and lymph nodes. The life expectancy being less than 5 years, likely only 1.

Things began to move very quickly from that point on. The month of June, Abbie’s health has declined. Due to chemo, she developed a severe edema (swelling in her legs) which took away her mobility. Abbie went from being able to walk around, care for herself, was even planning on getting her license renewed- to within 3 weeks becoming unable to walk on her own, unable to get out of the bed on her own, or care for herself at all. The cancer, chemo, & edema all causing her significant pain.

June 21st Abbie was supposed to receive a different, less aggressive form of chemo after taking a break for 3/4 weeks to let her platelets build. But we never got to that appointment because:

June 18th, Father’s Day Sunday, Abbie was admitted to the hospital due to developing sepsis on her leg. A few weeks prior she’d been diagnosed with a DVT in the same leg, being treated with a blood thinner. The edema up until June 17th was perfectly normal per her situation, her General Practitioner even on June 16th said the swelling/weeping edema was fine, no infection, no color etc. Sunday morning, my dad Jim & I were getting ready for church at about 6/7am and noticed Abbie had developed a little red rash on her leg. We were keeping an eye on it but it wasn’t too alarming. Within only a few hours, as we returned from church Abbie had developed a deeper red rash crawling on the left leg, the weeping had changed from clear fluid to a yellow/red tinge, and she’d developed fluid blisters of the same color. So off to the ER we went. We were all still able to speak with Abbie and have normal conversations as we’d been admitted to the ER.

As of writing this June 22, Abbie is still admitted into the hospital. She is fighting this infection hard. She’s not out of the woods, it’s been very touch and go. She’s been eating very minimally due to her mostly sleeping. She hasn’t been in pain or asking for pain meds. Sometimes she rouses and gives us a “hello” or “I love you” before she drifts back off almost immediately. She’s been surrounded by friends and family. I cannot thank them enough. I don’t like to share too many “in the hospital bed sickly” photos, but this picture of her best friend/my bonus mom, & my pastor praying for her is so special to me.

The reality is while her body might recover and fight the infection, the cancer is still destroying her. Lest a miracle takes place, we’re walking towards the end of this race.

This is why I’m fundraising. Even with insurance, things are so expensive. Hospital stays, ER trips, multiple paramedic calls tho the house, ambulance trips, treatments, tests, end of life planning like headstones, plots, caskets, all of that nitty gritty that no one wants to deal with. My dad Jim is watching his wife of 30 smth years fight a battle he can’t help or fix, while still working, taking care of her, and his mother in law who’s total care dependent on us.

My mom Abbie has had such a life filled with love and caring for others, and now it’s time some of that other help comes back around to help her. Even if you’re unable to donate to help - thank you for reading this. A prayer for her, me, my dad, and grandma will go just as far as a dollar.

Thank you for your consideration on helping make this easier for us.

-Britt.