Hi there,

My name is Shannon, and Fiona is my mother-in-law. Fiona has been living in South Africa for the last 20 years or so, and she is currently visiting our family in Florida for a few months - myself, Pascal (her son/my husband), and our three children. Fiona also has another son living and working in Switzerland, Etienne (in the left of the picture), and her siblings and mom are scattered over Europe and Australia. Fiona’s husband died when Pascal was 10 years old, 18 years ago. She has been alone in South Africa the past couple of years with no family at all so we brought her to the U.S. to visit us spend time with her grandchildren.

While visiting us, Fiona started having intense pain in her pelvic area. It became so intense that Pascal and I decided to take her to a local Urgent Care where she was given antibiotics for a small UTI (Dec 7th). However, she had a severe adverse reaction to the antibiotics, and we returned two days later to the Urgent Care (Dec 9th). The Dr prescribed another kind of antibiotic even though the UTI had almost completely cleared, but after switching antibiotics, she had the same negative effects.

We went back a third time Monday, December 11th, and Fiona insisted they examine her physically - the Dr found a large painful bulge in her pelvic area. He then ordered a CT Scan, and we went that same day.

The next day Fiona called to get the results, and the Dr insisted that she come into the office to discuss the findings. Very kindly, the Dr explained that she has developed a large solid mass 6.7"x4" and a large second mass that is 5.8" x 5.3” that is undetermined. These are pressing against her kidney and not allowing any liquid to release through the urethras - along with several other uncomfortable symptoms.

The Dr explained that she most likely has ovarian cancer, but he would need further tests to confirm. After calling different Urologists we realized that she would need go to the ER at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

After praying about it and weighing our options, Pascal took his mom to SMH Dec 12th around 5pm… It wasn’t until nearly 10pm that they were able to receive a secondary CT Scan and she was finally admitted. The immediate priority is to restore kidney function, and then further tests and a biopsy moving forward. We're confident that Fiona will receive amazing care at SMH.

However, we have a large problem. The necessary procedures come with an enormous financial cost. Fiona has no health insurance, no savings, is unable to work, and is 64 years old. We are doing what we can to help but are obviously not able to cover these expenses. We're also looking into partial financial assistance and other programs to reduce the costs. We will need help to cover the cost of the operation to place stents into both urethras and another surgery to remove that masses.

After her health is taken care of Fiona will need to leave the country in mid January 2024 because her tourist Visa will expire (destination TBD). Staying here is not really an option right now, for a number of reasons, so she'll need help with travel, living and any residual medical expenses until she is well enough to resume working, wherever that may be.

We're overwhelmed and so grateful for the support, prayer and encouragement we've already received from so many. Thank you so much for your help!