Hi. I am Diane Larson. Everyone who knows me calls me Dee or Mama Dee, as I am a Grandmother. I am living on a beautiful tropical island in Honduras called Roatan, in the Western Caribbean. My husband, Jay, and I have lived there since October 2023. I convinced my husband to move there and, without hesitation, he said Yes. We absolutely love it! The people are so warm and friendly, family-oriented. It is so very inexpensive to live here. Who wouldn't want to live on a tropical island? There have been necessary adjustments, but we have adapted and feel acclimated to the weather, temperature and humidity and culture.

But things have taken a turn and I must share that with our family, friends and church family. I already had a compromised immune system and a compressed lung. I have made the best of that with very little trouble-until recently.

Earlier this year I had been coughing a lot and was feeling tired and had some mental confusion. I just chalked it up to old age. They are working on our road and had dug up all the asphalt and there was dust everywhere. My husband was coughing too. It got worse, so we visited our Doctor. He took some blood tests and said my blood numbers were low: Red/While blood cells and platelets-all out of range. We went to the mainland and visited a hematologist, who performed a bone marrow biopsy. His recommendation was to go back to the US. I had a few more blood tests on Roatan and my Doctor finally said, "You need to go back to the US." That was in May. My blood was so bad I had to get two transfusions prior to boarding the plane. Getting blood is quite the ordeal in Honduras, and having AB+ was even more of a challenge. By the time I had plane reservations I had a fever, extremely low blood pressure, sepsis, low hemoglobin and that nagging cough. On Mothers Day eve I flew to SF/Oakland and my dear friend Terri met me and took me to Stanford where I was immediately admitted. They found I also had Pneumonia and a DVT blood clot in one of my legs.

So, now we have a name for the issues with my blood. I have AML. Acute Myeloid Leukemia. It is highly aggressive, but highly treatable. This just came out of nowhere.

A week later, on the 18th, I developed an arterial bleed and nearly died. I was given 10 units of blood (The human body contains about 10 units). The Doctors patched the bleeder and fixed another suspicious area. I have now been in the ICU twice, the second time due to low blood pressure. They are watching that very carefully.

To date, my fever, sepsis, are gone. The Pneumonia is nearly gone. I am still not eating or sleeping like I should. Pain is a constant and I am now on a feeding tube. I have a massive rash on my hip and they are watching that close and trying topical treatments.

We have amassed a large credit card debt in this whole journey. This is the reason for the GoFundMe outreach. My husband is doing his best to not spend, and divert what little funds we have, so we can still make the mortgage payments on our home. He recently flew home (once he got a cat and house-sitter) to see me and our church/family. We could not afford the trip, but he went anyway.

We are on fixed income. We only have three years left on our mortgage and then we are debt free. We had a huge tax bill last year (several thousands) we did not expect and that killed us. Then there are the charges to our credit cards. My husband has always paid his debts off and this is the first time in 15-18 years he will have interest added to his/our credit cards.

The donations we are asking for will only go towards Credit Card debt, so the interest will not eat us alive. Once the balances are zeroed out we should be able to function, as we did before.

We ask everyone to please be generous, but ask that you only donate if you are able to, out of your abundance. We would not ask if it were not important. We know there are many people who know and love us and want to help. If you are able to we thank you, in advance. If you are not able to donate, then please offer prayers to our Holy God that we can get through this financial burden, and that I ultimately will be healed.

I am getting better everyday and thank God for his unfailing love, support and guidance during this most challenging time in my life. We also covet your prayers and hope to one day thank you all personally for your financial support.

Psalm 41:3, 143:7; James 5:16 (Healing)

Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 46:1, Phil 4:13, (Spiritual Strength)

Psalm 23, Isa 41:10, Matt 6:34, John 14:7, Phil 4:6-7, 2Tim 1:7 (Fear/Anxiety)...............and so many others.