Care help for Paula and Tom Ferriola

2020 has been a relentless year for everybody, but it has hit Paula, Tom, and their family especially hard. Over the past two years, both Paula and Tom were diagnosed with different types of stage four cancer. For the past couple of months both of their health has drastically declined quicker than we could have ever expected.

In July of 2019 Paula was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a very aggressive brain cancer. She’s fought extremely hard over the past year through surgery, months of radiation and chemo, and a device called the Optune, which she wore on her head for nine months. Unfortunately, she had began to have frequent seizures and an MRI in July showed rapid tumor regrowth. She was already becoming very weak and spent some time in the hospital, a nursing home, then went back to the hospital. It was determined that medically not much could be done. She has since been home on hospice with her seizures under control, but her left side is paralyzed and her health is continuing to decline. She’s has 24/7 caregivers at home, because she needs more care than is possible for family members to provide. This isn’t covered by insurance and is a very large financial burden, but our goal is to keep her home, comfortable, and with family until the end.

In 2018 Tom was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer that had metastasized. He too has fought hard through radiation, the optune, immunotherapy, and just finished his chemo treatments before Paula ended up in the hospital. The stress of everything happening, and also trying to recover from treatment, has cause him to be hospitalized twice since Paula has been home. He is now home but has loss of balance and loss of some motor skills, causing him to need assistance around the home as well. 

With them both needing so much help it has been very hard on the family emotionally and financially and we are trying to raise some money to help pay for or subsidize just one week of the caregivers. Anything can help and is greatly appreciated in this difficult time. Even if you aren’t able to give right now, please share with those who know them. Thank you.



Peter, Cassandra, Madison, Samantha, and Juliana want to thank anybody who had taken the time to read their parents story and to everybody who had been a part of their lives over the years.