Regina (Tedesco) Morales Get Well Fund

Our mom, Regina Morales, was diagnosed with a cancer called a Follicular Denditic Cell Sarcoma in January 2010.  This is a rare cancer, there is no cure, just treatment to get to get her into remission.  When she had her first surgery the tumor was as big as a grapefruit. She ended up having a foot of her intestines removed, an inch of her colon removed, and her pancreas shaved. She was supposed to be getting better and leaving the hospital in ten days.  Instead our mom got worse by the day. Soon she went into resipitory failure while inside the ICU in Lourdes Hospital In Camden. This confirmed she had an auto immune disease called Myasthenia Gravis that had no more tumor to attack so it attacked out mom. Almost a month later, after a round of Plasmapheresis and few blood transfusions she was released. Her prognosis was good. Cancer was removed no need for chemotherapy. Unfortunately, for her this was the beginning of understanding a relentless Myasthenia Gravis. Every month after she left the hospital her weakness from the disease would put her back in the hospital for rounds and rounds of Plasmapherisis.  By this time she found an MG expert and a Sarcoma expert at Cooper Hospital. In May of 2010 she had the disease under control. She did have a nurse come to the house and give her IVIG treatments every 3 weeks which stabilized her nicely. A year passed and we watched her weakness return, it got so bad one night in July 2011 our grandmom took her to Cooper Hospital ER. Within hours she went from talking to having a code blue in the elevator on her way to radiaoligy to have a picc line placed.  She was under heavy sedation for about a month because we could not stabilize her. When she did wake up she was very upset to learn she had undergone a tracheotomy and another tumor was found on her bladder.  October 2011, surgery went well, trach was finally removed and so was the tumor along with 12 smaller tumors scattered all over her intestines, so this time chemo was in her future.  From December 2011 to March 2012 she goes through the CHOP chemotherapy.  Recently, March 15, 2014, she got to her 2 year remission mark. The MG had been sleeping all that time, but every once in a while causing facial weakness when she smiled but nothing like before. Mom had said for the past year off and on something wasn't right, but after multiple doctor appointments nothing was found until April.  Mom woke up in pain a day or so before her 38th birthday, she said the feeling was all to familiar and she was right, it was the same cancer as before. A CT Scan confirmed and egg sized tumor on the belly wall. This time surgery was not an option.  She started her chemo on May 5, 2014. We got word that the CHOP chemo she had before did not help this time, in fact the tumor grew. She is now receiving another type of chemo. This chemo has such bad side effects it put her in the hospital recently.

We know she is in pain, we know she doesn't like not knowing, neither do we, but we also know how strong our mom is, we know she is a fighter and we know if she told you this story she would smile the whole time like it wasn't so bad, then she would ask you how your doing. She is a great woman and we are trying to raise money so she can get to the Hippocrates Clinic in West Palm Beach, Fl., as well as making sure we are prepared to travel for a second opinion and treatment elsewhere. Yes, medical bills do exists but we will deal with those when we have to. Our main goal is to get her better, through chemotherapy, better nutrition, and whatever else it takes.  The clinic is $6000.00  for the full 3 weeks, but any size donation is welcome. Any goal reached is a blessing. We are going to have a fundraiser for her as soon as we can. Details should be coming soon. It's hard to sum up 5 years on a sheet of paper, but I think we did it. Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for your donation!

Sincerely,

Alonzo and DeVante Morales