Christy’s Fighting Fund

Everyone who knows my mom, Christy Harvey, knows how kindhearted and selfless she is. She puts herself last to make sure everyone else is ok. However, now is the time for her to completely focus on herself and her health.

For the past 8 years, Christy has been fighting colorectal cancer. I can’t even begin to list the surgeries, doctors, and treatments that she has been through. She has leaned on her faith and tacked every obstacle placed in her way.

She has worked her whole life to help provide for her family and to make sure her children (and grandchildren) never went without. A couple years ago, she was let go from her job due to her illness. Since then, she has continued to make things work along with her husband, Tim, who has never left her side.

Unfortunately, 2022 has proven to be the most difficult year yet. A change in doctors and treatments and a search for clinical trials or other treatment options has taken up the majority of the year.

In June, she was told that the chemo just wasn’t doing the job anymore. She was set up with a cancer research center to see if a clinical trial would be an option. After months of the “hurry up and wait” game, we finally thought things were going to start progressing with the trial. However, different obstacles kept arising to keep her from ever starting the new treatment.

By the end of September, the cancer had been making obvious changes within her body due to months without chemo or any type of treatment. The chemo hadn’t been shrinking the tumors consistently before, but without chemo, the cancer was left to run wild. Scans in September showed fluid had built up in her chest, and she was instructed to go to the ER.

Five days later, she remains in the hospital with hopes of returning home within the next couple of days. While here, she has had two procedures to drain fluid, an esophagram, and had a PEG tube (feeding tube) placed. The results from a swallow test revealed that the tumors around her esophagus were restricting everything she swallowed from reaching her stomach as it should. There was finally an answer to some of the problems she has been having. The feeding tube became the best option to ensure she could receive nutrients going into the refocused battle against the cancer.

So far, the fluid drained from her chest has not had any detectable cancer cells which is a relief. Results from the second fluid draw are still pending. The doctor said if the second test comes back negative for cancer cells, he will feel 90% certain that the fluid build up is not cancer.

The next step in her treatment will involve radiation and chemotherapy. The doctors are trying to find the best chemo option for her.

Throughout her 8 year battle with cancer, she has often been drawing a limited amount of her pay. She took another drop in income when she was let go from her job of almost 25 years. Due to her frequent appointments, recent travel to another clinic, and now her hospital stay, her husband has had to miss several days of work without pay.

As she laid in the hospital yesterday, her mind continued to worry about how she would be able to pay upcoming bills knowing her husband would be missing more work in order to be by her side to care for her, including learning about her new feeding tube and nutritional requirements.

Wondering how she will be able to afford to pay her bills is not a worry that she should have to endure right now. It’s a worry that I wish so badly to help relieve her from. Her focus should be on her health and her fight against the cancer that has invaded her body and is refusing to leave.

If you are able to help financially, it would be greatly appreciated. Any burden that can be lifted from her mind at this time allows that much more of her energy to be focus on her fight. If you are unable to help financially, we completely understand. Either way, prayers are incredibly appreciated.