Hello! My name is Anna and I'm putting this fundraiser together with my mom, Miranda (fourth & fifth pictures), for my Aunt Alaina, who's the beautiful person in all of the images. Alaina is exactly what you'd expect when you cross Wonder Woman with a matriarch. She's done so much for our family, from handmaking birthday cards to hosting holidays to playing therapist for everyone. She does all of that and way more with a smile and nothing but love.

My grandfather passed only a few days before Christmas back in 2018 and my grandmother in the winter of 2023. Alaina always took the time to take them to medical appointments and stores on her day off. She never complained about this, even when her husband, Warren (in the other pictures), had a heart attack in between their deaths and open-heart surgery just earlier this year.

This past year, her health has taken a dip and she's been diagnosed with something known as CML. It's a type of blood cancer, Leukemia specifically, that starts in the bone marrow and creates/effects abnormal white blood cells. It's a chronic type of cancer which means that she'll be on medication for the rest of her life with no chance of it going into remission. All of this is on top of previous health issues related to her heart, GI, and infections that have caused her to go on different antibiotics for months at a time.

Still, Alaina is a warrior and even with this, is determined to take care of the family before herself. With her starting treatment, there have been a lot of concerns about money. She has a good job and has stayed there for over over two decades, but it's expected that she will have to take time off with everything going on.

Alaina has been a social worker for twenty plus years and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that she's influenced countless lives. She's helped those who've worked with her find better jobs, housing and connections to education that they wouldn't have before. Those who know her personally will attest that she loves openly and gives freely.

Our hope is that donations will become something of a safety net, but if enough is raised, we would love nothing more than to take her on a trip. She is turning 56 in a few weeks and we have always wanted to take her somewhere along the West Coast! This is a woman who loves others and adventure but never finds the time needed to take care of herself amidst her own giving nature.

Please help us make this happen for Alaina! She's the best wife, sister, mother, and aunt that anyone could ask for. Anything donated is much appreciated and if nothing else, thank you for taking the time to read our story.

(Alaina would be mortified if she knew that this was being put up so if you know her, please don't say anything!)