Cancer fight by a Mom of 2 precious young boys

Hi. I am fundraising for my cousin, Laura. Laura is a dedicated, fabulous wife and mother and step-mother.

 

After years of working in medical offices, Laura worked hard to finish her nursing degree while raising two kids and maintaining a household. Laura's late nights of school work after the kids went to sleep were made possible by her sincere wish to help others and provide a better life for her boys. Less than a year after graduation and accepting a position with Dickson Medical Associates, Laura had some female issues that resulted in a hysterectomy, which depleted her PTO days. Shortly thereafter, stomach issues hit. A colonoscopy revealed Stage 3 Colorectal Cancer. It is nonsurgical, so chemo and radiation treatments began. After her 7th radiation treatment (of the 30 required at this time), she became seriously ill and was admitted to Sarah Cannon at Centennial. Her white blood cells and platelets dropped extremely low, and they proceeded with antibiotics and bone marrow booster shots. The shots helped increase her WBC from 0.3 to 2.6, and she was released yesterday after a 5-day admittance; however, her platelets are still extremely low and she is too sick to return to work even part-time from home at this time.  Of course this has also delayed her treatment process.

 

Laura is a strong-willed individual and wanted to work as much as physically possible during her treatments as her time at DMA does not meet the required time frame to qualify for full short-term disability and her PTO was used for the prior medical issue.  However, due to the immunosuppression  caused by the 2 chemotherapies she is receiving , she was advised to take at least 3 months off in office work with the potential for some work from home if she is strong enough to do so.  While her husband works full time for Xfinity, he also has to take some time off to help Laura and the boys. Only having 1 income is resulting in a huge financial strain on the family. I hope this fundraiser will help them with that financial struggle while Laura fights this dreadful disease.