Please help me defeat cancer!

Hi there!

My name is Diana, I’m 45 years old. I’m a single momma to my wonderful SONshine for 13 years now. I love homeschooling him, and we both usually enjoy exploring the great outdoors and going on adventures together. If you know me, you know I’m an “I got it!” type of person. I DIY everything, I don’t put my health issues out there, and I take pride in being an independent woman. I get things done!

Well, I don’t ‘got it’ anymore, and I need your help financially. They say ‘it takes a village,’ but my son and I don’t have a village…

Here’s my story:

About 2.5 years ago, I got sick and stayed sick. It started with nightly severe stomach pain. Then came diarrhea and vomiting. I thought I had gotten some stomach bug and it would clear up eventually. It didn’t. It got to the point where I could not stop vomiting. I ended up in the ER in February 2023 with sepsis. They were surprised I could still walk; according to my bloodwork, I should have come in lethargic on a stretcher. After some testing, it was determined that my gallbladder had ‘stopped working.’ I had no previous history of any issues with my gallbladder. I ended up in the hospital for almost a week and had my gallbladder removed.

Everything went downhill from there...

The digestive issues got way worse than before—I mean, I was going 20 times a day! My son and I could barely leave the house because of this. I couldn’t work much because I spent most of my days running to the toilet.

All of this was blamed on not having a gallbladder anymore. I was prescribed several different medications, but absolutely nothing helped me get better! I was told that things ‘normalize’ again after a few months. But in extreme cases, these ‘symptoms’ could last a few years. (Just my luck!) I also experienced the worst brain fog during this time. I could not focus on anything, even for 10 minutes.

Still dealing with being so sick, in May 2024—five days before my SONshine’s birthday—our house got hit by a tornado! Can you say Murphy’s Law in full effect??? The tornado completely destroyed our backyard, crushed our pool, and took down fences. A branch came in through the window of my office, destroying my work equipment and sending glass everywhere. This was also the room we hunkered down in the closet in. We had trees down on both sides of the house, merely missing the house by 5 inches. We were not injured from this storm, but we were definitely both traumatized. It took months to get the window replaced and everything cleaned up. Again, I missed weeks of working because of the damages. Our house was never the same again.

Then, in September 2024, I started having bloody stools. Around the same time, I noticed an egg-sized lump in my groin. The lump was diagnosed as an inguinal hernia, which would need to be surgically repaired.

My doctor finally sent me to a gastroenterologist. They ordered me to have a colonoscopy, BUT the hernia repair needed to be done first. And then I would need to wait 6 weeks before the colonoscopy could be done. They also tested stool samples.

I was scheduled to have the ‘hernia’ surgery in December 2024. But the stool samples came back showing that I had a bad bacterial infection of the colon, which could be deadly if left untreated. Great… My surgery was canceled because of this. I had to take antibiotics specific to this infection. My diarrhea and stomach cramping finally stopped! The brain fog: gone! Almost 2 years later! This bad infection had gone undiagnosed all this time and was likely hospital-acquired when I had gotten my gallbladder removed (2/2023).

I couldn’t get another appointment for the hernia surgery until the end of January, which then also pushed out the colonoscopy appointment until the end of March.

I had the ‘hernia’ surgery on January 29, 2025.

It was NOT a hernia.

I received the devastating news that it was a metastasized lymph node. In other words, I have CANCER that has METASTASIZED.

Now we needed to locate where the cancer was coming from.

I ended up getting the colonoscopy a week later, which confirmed a cancerous tumor in my rectum.

Further PET scans showed that the cancer has spread to all of my lymph nodes in my pelvis.

My diagnosis: STAGE 3 ANORECTAL CANCER.

Meanwhile, the homeowner of the house we’d been living in for the last 6.5 years wanted to sell the house, and we were going to have to move out by April 1st.

My mom had already booked a flight from Germany to come help us move. Now she’s here to be my caretaker and my everything else.

On March 19th, I had another surgery to get the chemo port placed.

On March 24, 2025, I started chemo and radiation.

I’m getting 2 different chemo treatments: one is administered outpatient, and the other one is administered through a pump that stays with me for 5 days, then a 3-week break, and then another round of chemo. Radiation treatments are daily for 6-8 weeks.

Moving day was March 28th. Chemo pump and all.

The quoted 4-5 hour move ended up taking 9 long hours, also costing more than twice as much.

My poor mom pretty much had to pack up the entire house by herself and also unpack at the new house. Again, I have no ‘village’ here to help us.

I started having severe side effects to the chemo and radiation after the first week. Typically, these side effects don’t start until about 3 weeks into the treatment. Two weeks ago, my bloodwork showed that I was critically neutropenic, and my treatment had to be put on hold for a few days.

I am having severe radiation burn. I don’t want to get too deep into the details, but just imagine someone putting a hot iron on your privates… and then going back again daily to have it done again. We are still working on getting my pain controlled.

Last weekend, we cut my hair; too much was falling out.

They say when it rains, it pours! And boy, it’s been pouring non-stop for over 2 years. I had a ‘rainy day fund,’ but being a single mom and the only one paying bills for my house, missing tons of work (unpaid) due to being sick, those funds don’t last forever. And even though I’ve been at my job for over 8 years—if I don’t work, I don’t get paid.

In addition to this cancer, the PET scan also showed a lesion in my chest behind my sternum that could also be cancerous. This will also require a big surgery—after I’m done with this cancer treatment.

I am needing medical supplies that are not covered by insurance to help keep me somewhat comfortable throughout this treatment. The worst of it has yet to come.

I need help paying my rent and other essential bills. My car just needed a bigger repair too… Again, it’s storming over here.

I’m requesting financial help so I can get the rest I need and focus on getting well again. So I can be the mom I need to be for my SONshine and we can get our ‘regular’ life back! So I can get back to being the independent woman that I have been for so long. And stop worrying my parents.

If you’ve read this far, thank you.

Round 2 of my chemo treatment started on Monday, April 21, 2025.

Please help if you can, every dollar makes a difference! If you can’t help, please share, share, share!

Much love to all of you!