Hello, my name is Becky Hays, and I am a 66-year-old single woman who has been battling Cancer for the last two and a half years. The Doctors at OHSU were able to get rid of the cancer, but they found four more tumors about two months ago. The Doctors then told me I only have about one year left to live. Since I received this news, I have agreed to try an experimental drug, and I just had my first treatment. I will now be having these treatments every 21 days. I am hopeful these treatments will be successful, as they could give me five years or more to live. However, I am also a practical person, and know there is no guarantee this treatment will work, so when I started hearing the words “Bucket List”, more and more from my friends and family, I decided I would like to make a trip before I get so bad I cannot do it physically. This trip would include me driving with my best friend (who has agreed to come with me) through California, then to Arizona to visit my oldest friend for a few days. From there, we would drive to New Mexico to see another dear friend for a few days. After, we plan to return to Washington and home. This trip would have to be finished within 21 days so I could resume my treatments. I do not want to fly there, because I believe part of the experience is the time spent driving there and back with my friend. I also want to enjoy the scenery.

My idea was to try to rent a camper van or a very small motor home so we would not have to worry about the expense of motels or restaurants, since we would have our sleeping quarters and kitchen with us. This idea just seems more realistic to me. I live on a thousand dollars a month on Social Security. My friend lives on about the same. We have started looking at the cost of rentals and have found it is very expensive to begin with, but then they also charge mileage, making the cost far too high for us.

I have been going through my belongings and putting on a sort of price. Things that if sold could bring in 10, 20, or more dollars to put towards the cost. I plan to take pictures of things to sell to put on different sites, and all of the money made will go into the funds for my trip. Unfortunately, even with my efforts, I know it will not be enough money. I need help. I believe in word of mouth, networking, and the goodness of people. It is my hope someone out there knows someone who might have one of the vehicles mentioned earlier that they are not using right now and are willing to rent it out without charging mileage. We would try to come up with a deposit. My friend and I both have clean driving records, and we will be returning in 21 days. I do not want to wait much longer than the end of March to go because I am fearful that waiting too long may make it impossible for this trip to happen because of my illness.

I am not a person who wants something for nothing, and that is why I have decided to try to sell some of the items throughout my apartment. I do have items to sell, and while they are not anything that is high-dollar, they would all go towards reaching my goal. I live in Vancouver in an apartment complex and can not have a garage sale, but I can have an “In my apartment sale.” Make me a fair offer, and you can take it home. My time and ability to do this trip physically may be very short, so I am asking for help from everyone out there; we could help somehow, someway.

Please help me make this trip a reality.

-Becky Hays.