Debbie Skiver Needs Our Help!
Donation protected
I am Sarah LaPratt hosting and sharing this fundraiser on behalf of my best friend April Sarasin and her mother, Debbie Skiver. These are April’s own words explaining what our fundraiser is for and about.
...
This is the hardest thing I have ever had to write.
The strongest woman I know has cancer.
Over Labor Day weekend, my mom went to the McLaren Lapeer emergency room for what she worried was sciatic nerve pain or maybe kidney stones. Routine imaging was ordered. Shockingly, she was told that she has lung cancer that has metastasized into her spine. She also had a tumor on her L1/L2 that, if ruptured, could result in paralysis.
My mom’s primary concern was her job. She’s a contractual worker and earns the sole income for the household. If she is unable to work, she loses her health insurance and cannot pay the already-mounting bills. She was so determined to not let cancer beat her that only two days after having a spinal biopsy, she went back to work.
Within a few short weeks, she underwent ten aggressive radiation treatments to shrink the tumor. She had a PETScan and EKG to see if the cancer spread to the body or brain (results are still not yet available). On the day she was scheduled to have a chemo port implanted, she had pain that made it difficult to get up off the couch. Later, the surgery went well, but she refused to leave the facility until the physicians determined the cause of the neck pain - she knew something wasn’t right. They were able to determine that she’d actually fractured her C3/C4.
The intense radiation had deteriorated her spine so badly that simply climbing off of the couch broke her neck.
Last Friday she had neck surgery to remove shattered bones and to cement the spine by adding pins and screws. Last night she had surgery on her lower back to remove the tumor (that DIDN’T shrink with radiation) and to add metal plates. We still don’t know if the cancer spread to her brain or throughout her body.
Still, she brought her briefcase and laptop bag to do work, and it breaks my heart. Her focus needs to be on healing, not finances. So, I’m asking for help with living and medical expenses. Please help me help her by allowing her to ease her mind as she continues to heal her body.
Please, please, please help me take care of my mom while she focuses on the fight of her life.
*If I’ve ever helped you. Stood up for you. Made you laugh. That’s my mom in me.*
...
This is the hardest thing I have ever had to write.
The strongest woman I know has cancer.
Over Labor Day weekend, my mom went to the McLaren Lapeer emergency room for what she worried was sciatic nerve pain or maybe kidney stones. Routine imaging was ordered. Shockingly, she was told that she has lung cancer that has metastasized into her spine. She also had a tumor on her L1/L2 that, if ruptured, could result in paralysis.
My mom’s primary concern was her job. She’s a contractual worker and earns the sole income for the household. If she is unable to work, she loses her health insurance and cannot pay the already-mounting bills. She was so determined to not let cancer beat her that only two days after having a spinal biopsy, she went back to work.
Within a few short weeks, she underwent ten aggressive radiation treatments to shrink the tumor. She had a PETScan and EKG to see if the cancer spread to the body or brain (results are still not yet available). On the day she was scheduled to have a chemo port implanted, she had pain that made it difficult to get up off the couch. Later, the surgery went well, but she refused to leave the facility until the physicians determined the cause of the neck pain - she knew something wasn’t right. They were able to determine that she’d actually fractured her C3/C4.
The intense radiation had deteriorated her spine so badly that simply climbing off of the couch broke her neck.
Last Friday she had neck surgery to remove shattered bones and to cement the spine by adding pins and screws. Last night she had surgery on her lower back to remove the tumor (that DIDN’T shrink with radiation) and to add metal plates. We still don’t know if the cancer spread to her brain or throughout her body.
Still, she brought her briefcase and laptop bag to do work, and it breaks my heart. Her focus needs to be on healing, not finances. So, I’m asking for help with living and medical expenses. Please help me help her by allowing her to ease her mind as she continues to heal her body.
Please, please, please help me take care of my mom while she focuses on the fight of her life.
*If I’ve ever helped you. Stood up for you. Made you laugh. That’s my mom in me.*
Co-organizers (2)
Sarah Rhodes-LaPratt
Organizer
Lapeer, MI
April Sarasin
Beneficiary
April Sarasin
Co-organizer