Aid Jeff 'Mimi' in Her Fight Against Cancer

You may not know Jeff “Mimi”, so let me tell you about her. She has always been the first person to help someone out. One of my first stories would be way back right after she and Dad got married, a family had broken down on the side of the road. Mom brought them all home so they were safe until their car got fixed. If you needed a ride, she was always there. Needed food? Mom cooked meals. After my aunt passed away, she and Dad brought in two of my cousins so they had a good stable place to stay and get started on their lives. (Yeah, they paid rent but it wasn’t a lot compared to all they got).

The last 6 years have been horrific though. In 2018, we lost my nephew at the age of 13. Then in 2020, we lost my dad. Mom and Dad were each other's lifelines. They rarely did anything apart from the other.

Mom quickly moved back to Maryland and Heather and Billy moved in with her. At that point, Mom started helping take care of Billy while Heather worked.

Two years ago, we noticed Mom had a large mass on her sternum. She had been asking her doctors repeatedly about it and the pain. It turns out that the kidney cancer Mom had in 2003 had returned. It’s almost unheard of to be that far away from remission and to come back in the sternum. We’ve been doing immunotherapy, undergone two bouts of pneumonitis and now we reach another point. The cancer has spread in Mom’s abdomen and spine.

While Mom is not giving up, treatment now includes a new medication and more radiation. The medication is about $2500 a month. Mom was able to get a grant but it only covers about 4 months.

On top of the medication, Mom is now moving only with a wheelchair. We were thankfully given a full size one from my in-laws but Mom could use a smaller one for quicker appointments. Mom is also in need of some personal medical equipment. Between this diagnosis and Dad’s diabetes medications before he passed, savings have been basically depleted.

Mom did recently sell her prized possessions of her quilting and embroidery machines which will give us an extra two months of medicine.

UPDATE: We had another visit to Georgetown today. I was a little scared to take Mom back. You see we were there Friday for a CT scan to check on the size of the sternal mass. When we left we got stuck in the elevator for 20 minutes.

But we made it safely home today. Got some education on two new medicines and tapering off a third! Thankfully the one new medication is an injection they will give in the hospital. This is good because it’s covered completely by insurance!