Financial support for Barbara

On February 8th, 2018, our family was dealt a devastating blow. Our beautiful mother was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Brain Tumor on the left side of her brain. For months leading up to the discovery, she had been taking medication for what she was told by her primary doctor was early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. As the months went on, her memory got worse along with her speech. Her sentences were mixed up, her words were coming out wrong and she was having a hard time trying to explain what she was saying. One night, while trying to have a conversation with our dad, her speech was so bad that he looked at her and said she needed to go back in and have an MRI done. She agreed, and made the appointment. Her doctor called her with the results a couple of days later and said she needed to go to the hospital as he was concerned. So my mom left work, called my dad and he met her at home. Together, they went to the first hospital to have another MRI done and that is when it was confirmed she had a golf ball size tumor growing. The doctors over seeing our mothers care were not focused on best medicine for her, as they were not listening to anything she or our family were saying. They were supportive at first, until it was determined we would be seeking a 2nd opinion from a different hospital. They fought us on everything, down to even getting her transferred out of there.

After a horrible experience with the first hospital, we made the decision to have her transferred to a better hospital, that specialized in brain tumors. Her team there was incredible, and made sure to make our mom as comfortable as possible. After many conversations with her team of doctors, the surgery was scheduled and treatment plan was made.

On February 15th, our mom under went a very long brain surgery to remove the tumor. Due to the location of it, our mom had to be woken up during surgery and talk with the doctors so they could reduce the risk of her never being able to speak again. After a very long 8 hours, our mom was out of surgery and in recovery. The doctor came down and gave us the news that although the surgery was successful, they weren’t able to remove the whole tumor due to the location and the complexity of it growing into her brain, and not just on the exterior. So the plan was to start chemo and radiation two weeks post op and get her fitted for her Optune Cap that she would wear 24 hours a day. She would be able to come home a few days later and rest up to start treatment.

On February 27th, mom started a running a fever in the evening of 101.5. We were able to break her fever, but she was getting the chills and you could see the worry come over her face. An hour later, we checked her temp again and it had shot up to 103.4. We called the on call dr who advised us to take her in right away, as we weren’t sure if she had developed an infection from her incision or if there was an underlying issue. So off to the emergency room we went. The ER dr said she couldn’t really hear anything in her chest, but wanted to make sure there wasn’t an issue, so she went and had a CT scan done. That’s when it was discovered mom had come down with pneumonia. Since she had just had brain surgery, the dr wanted to admit her for observation. After sitting in the ER for 8 hours, my sister and I had to leave for a bit to get kids off school and a shower. We both were back up there a little while later once mom had her room and was settled. After being in the for a few days, she was finally cleared to come home and continue her post op care. Chemo and radiation had both been bumped back since her body needed time to recover from not only the surgery, but also the pneumonia as well.

On March 15th, we made the trip down the Cleveland Clinic to talk with their team about what studies are available and if mom was a candidate for any of them. We met with a couple different doctors, went over her reports and gave them the images from all of her scans. While they did have studies available, they wouldn’t be starting for a couple of weeks and neither the doctors nor mom wanted to wait. They advised mom to get started on chemo and radiation now, versus waiting longer to start anything. So, the decision was made that mom would come home with us and start her treatment, then we would reevaluate in 8 weeks.

On March 21st, mom started chemo and radiation, going back and forth to the hospital Monday through Friday for 6 weeks. She is keeping her spirits high throughout the process, so much so that the ladies at the hospital made sure to mention how nice it is to see her smile every day and how sweet she is (mom makes sure everyone feels included and will smile while saying “see you tomorrow” to everyone who’s there since it’s the same patients and people every day) to make sure she never lets anyone feel forgotten about.

May 1st will be moms last day of chemo/radiation for now (she will start back up again in a few weeks), and we will head to Chicago on May 8th to meet with the cancer treatment centers and see what can be done to help save our mom.

With everything going on, the medical bills and the travel to and from all the appointments, finances have become rather tight. While our family is not one to ask for help, we have made the difficult choice to create this fund to help alleviate some of the costs in hopes that it will help our mom focus on her beating this and becoming a survivor.

She’s not just a wife of almost 50 years, or just the mother to 4 children, or just the nana to 10 grand children and 1 great grand child, she is the glue that holds our family together. She is our rock and we would be lost without her. She never hesitates to welcome everyone she meets with open arms and a heartfelt smile. She’s known to everyone as “mom” or “nana”, because she makes you feel like you’re part of the family. Now more than ever, she needs our help to kick cancers ass and show everyone that miracles do happen! Even if you can’t afford to help financially, please share this post and say a prayer for our beautiful mother. We all know how well the power of prayer works, and when a community comes together to help one of their own, that power grows beyond measure!

From the bottom of our hearts, from our family to yours, thank you for helping us along the way!

SHE'S GOT THIS!!!!