For our aunt reva
Donation protected
Hello, this is my cousin Rita Rix, aka Reva. Her best friend Samantha Call found her at Dartmouth Hospital with her sister Rosemary Rix on her birthday last year. She was unable to speak except for a simple yes or no and her body was a skeleton. It was explained that Reva had called 911 three weeks before because she knew something was wrong. During those weeks they discovered through testing that she had stage 4 cancer in one of her lungs that had spread to her brain. They also did an intense 10 sessions of radiation. The doctors gave her 6 months to live and she was moved to hospice. For the next 3 weeks she declined, and they put a DNR (do not resuscitate) bracelet on her. We as family-Rose, Sam, Lena Boucher and myself tried to accept that she would be leaving us soon.
On the fourth week, her health started to improve. The bracelet was removed, staff was taking her outside to enjoy the sunshine and she was starting to talk sentences again. We were informed that her guardian was planning to move her to a nursing home. Reva’s memory was still not good and she could never remember what the name of or where it was located. They moved her during the week and none of us were notified. We lost her and did not know what was going on, who her guardian was and had no way to get ahold of her.
A month and a half later both Sam and Lena received a letter from her… this being her preferred way to communicate with loved ones. She was moved to a nursing home in Keene NH. Doctors did more testing and decided to do 3 rounds of chemo…after the first round she was too weak and could not handle the treatment so they stopped them. During this time Lena and I had health problem, Sam had fractured her ankle and no one could get ahold of Rose. Through further testing they discovered that 93% of the cancer had been eradicated and Reva was asked if she wanted to try more chemo. To our relief, she decided not to. We agreed with her that it was not quality of life for her, and the doctors told her that it would not cure the cancer, just prolong her life. Sam made it out to Keene to visit her a few times. Her memory came back and she was even able to walk without a walker. Her guardian started looking into moving her to a nursing home closer to where family and friends live
On Sam’s last visit at that nursing home Reva informed her that a nursing home was found in a closer proximity to all of us, and she thought it was in Laconia or Littleton. She would be moved in the next couple days. When we called the nursing home that next weekend she had moved, and again none of us were notified again. We lost her again, and we knew that our time was limited because her cancerous cells were not totally removed. Sam started calling all the nursing homes she could find in a 75 mile radius.
Three weeks later Reva called Sam and we were so happy to find out she was only an hour away in Franconia. During this time we continued to try to get in contact with her sister, to no avail. For all she knew Reva had died in hospice.
Over the past 2 months her cancer has come back and spread to her other lung, her stomach along with being back in the first lung and her brain. In the last two weeks she has declined quickly….using a Hoyer lift because her body is so frail, having to be fed because she is so weak, and not being able to read, write or speak. We have been visiting her often, thinking each time will be the last. And as hard as it is, we know she needs to go because all that is left is the suffering. The one blessing that we did have is that we found her sister Rose and were able to pick her up and bring her up to see Reva, knowing that it would help Reva to go in peace and let Rose say goodbye to her baby sister.
I am setting up this Go Fund Me page to ask for help to pay for Reva’s cremation, and a small Catholic service to have her ashes blessed. She was saved a couple years ago and was attending a Catholic Church on Sundays. She did start putting away money every month to pay for her cremation. We intend on contributing ourselves, but we do not have enough to make her final wishes come true.
We are hoping to raise $2,000 to give her the home going she deserves. If you are able to donate even $5 dollars it will be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Jennifer
On the fourth week, her health started to improve. The bracelet was removed, staff was taking her outside to enjoy the sunshine and she was starting to talk sentences again. We were informed that her guardian was planning to move her to a nursing home. Reva’s memory was still not good and she could never remember what the name of or where it was located. They moved her during the week and none of us were notified. We lost her and did not know what was going on, who her guardian was and had no way to get ahold of her.
A month and a half later both Sam and Lena received a letter from her… this being her preferred way to communicate with loved ones. She was moved to a nursing home in Keene NH. Doctors did more testing and decided to do 3 rounds of chemo…after the first round she was too weak and could not handle the treatment so they stopped them. During this time Lena and I had health problem, Sam had fractured her ankle and no one could get ahold of Rose. Through further testing they discovered that 93% of the cancer had been eradicated and Reva was asked if she wanted to try more chemo. To our relief, she decided not to. We agreed with her that it was not quality of life for her, and the doctors told her that it would not cure the cancer, just prolong her life. Sam made it out to Keene to visit her a few times. Her memory came back and she was even able to walk without a walker. Her guardian started looking into moving her to a nursing home closer to where family and friends live
On Sam’s last visit at that nursing home Reva informed her that a nursing home was found in a closer proximity to all of us, and she thought it was in Laconia or Littleton. She would be moved in the next couple days. When we called the nursing home that next weekend she had moved, and again none of us were notified again. We lost her again, and we knew that our time was limited because her cancerous cells were not totally removed. Sam started calling all the nursing homes she could find in a 75 mile radius.
Three weeks later Reva called Sam and we were so happy to find out she was only an hour away in Franconia. During this time we continued to try to get in contact with her sister, to no avail. For all she knew Reva had died in hospice.
Over the past 2 months her cancer has come back and spread to her other lung, her stomach along with being back in the first lung and her brain. In the last two weeks she has declined quickly….using a Hoyer lift because her body is so frail, having to be fed because she is so weak, and not being able to read, write or speak. We have been visiting her often, thinking each time will be the last. And as hard as it is, we know she needs to go because all that is left is the suffering. The one blessing that we did have is that we found her sister Rose and were able to pick her up and bring her up to see Reva, knowing that it would help Reva to go in peace and let Rose say goodbye to her baby sister.
I am setting up this Go Fund Me page to ask for help to pay for Reva’s cremation, and a small Catholic service to have her ashes blessed. She was saved a couple years ago and was attending a Catholic Church on Sundays. She did start putting away money every month to pay for her cremation. We intend on contributing ourselves, but we do not have enough to make her final wishes come true.
We are hoping to raise $2,000 to give her the home going she deserves. If you are able to donate even $5 dollars it will be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Jennifer
Organizer
Amelia Frizzell
Organizer
Berlin, NH
