Please Help Us Bring Our Mom Home

For those of you who know our mom, Donna, you will quickly realize that she would kill us for doing this. Our mom is always making people laugh with her humor and has made wonderful memories with family and so many friends, but she is very—stubbornly— private when it comes to things like this; hence the reason why she would kill us. We are hoping you will help her as she has a difficult journey ahead, and she really needs to be at home where she belongs. Specifically, we are asking for donations to go towards her medical flight back to Philadelphia where she will get the best treatment and be with her family. Our parents worked very hard to raise all five of us and to provide for our family. Both of our parents FINALLY retired and hoped to move to Fort Myers, FL. They intended to be “snowbirds”, going to Florida during the winter months. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been an easy transition. Last year, suddenly, my mom needed to have open-heart surgery, so she spent her summer of 2022 recovering. Not even a year later, she was hit with some extremely unexpected news that no one ever wants to receive. Cancer. Our mom was dealing with some back pain and went to the doctor for what she thought was a pulled muscle. They did some tests which uncovered a bulging disc and received treatment for it. While doing those same tests they found a mass in her lung and needed to do a biopsy right away. She got a procedure done and results came back that it is in fact non-small cell carcinoma. After finding out this news, the next step was to meet with oncology, so my parents booked a flight to come back to Philadelphia to meet their two new grand-babies and to see what their options were in Pennsylvania compared to Florida. During that waiting period, her back pain became unbearable. Shortly after, she lost complete feeling in her legs (from her waist to her toes) forcing my dad to rush her to the hospital. Immediate tests and an MRI of her thoracic spine found the cancer spread to her spine,-and the mass was crushing her spinal cord. Our mom was now suddenly paralyzed and getting worse. A terrific neurosurgeon was consulted and immediately ordered emergency surgery to remove some of the tumor that was causing the pressure and to prevent permanent paralysis. Within 8 days the surgeon had to do a second surgery to clear more of the tumor from her spinal cord. Currently, she is still in the hospital recovering from the back surgery trying to get stronger and walk again. Next, she will begin the fight against this horrible disease, including chemotherapy and radiation, but she is still in Florida. She has an amazing support system in Florida, which we thank God every day for, but she isn’t home, getting the best care and with her children where she wants to be. Our dad has been her rock through all of it, and he needs to be here with us so we can help her get through this too! These surgeries have made it impossible for her to fly home on a commercial flight, as she still cannot walk requiring her to be monitored and transferred medically. We found an amazing company who has medical air ambulances, but it is very expensive. We never wanted to have to ask for help, but the bills are piling up and she needs to be with her family in Philadelphia. Our mom has been through so, so, so, much; it’s incredibly unfair. Watching her go through all of these life changing obstacles is harder than you can imagine, but the strength she still shows is beyond admirable. She is the glue to our family and we cannot wait for her to get home! Anything helps and we appreciate every single one of you who can donate and who are praying for our mom! She will fight this and she will beat it!
Brandi Brophy, Teddy Brophy, and Michael Lauder made this GoFundMe for our mother/wife. Funds will be used to help fly Donna home, medical equipment and medical bills.