Funeral Costs for Carol Gosse

My grandma, Carol (Sue) Gosse, passed away on February 4th around 5:20 pm at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, MN.

[Her oldest daughter, my mother (Traci Backmann), her youngest daughter (Krystena Wall), and Cindy (her closest support friend) are handling all of the arrangements. My mom asked me if I would be able to help by taking care of this and I was more than honored to be able to do something that means I could be involved and make anything I could easier on them by sharing the weight.]

Sue was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer just over a year ago. Her prognosis wasn't great; small cell lung cancer is incredibly aggressive and has a very low survival rate. Yet, after just months of treatment, she was pronounced as being in remission. However, in December, she had a check-up with testing done. She wasn't called or informed of any results, however on New Year's Eve, Traci went to see her and discovered that she was in extremely terrifying condition - she couldn't breathe yet again. Her face was blue and she couldn't walk across a room unassisted. She rushed her to the ER and she was immediately admitted. Turns out, that testing had revealed pneumonia but somehow the hospital never bothered to let Sue know...so her condition deteriorated for weeks, unchecked. After over a week in the hospital, they released Sue on the 8th with some meds, health aids and oxygen. [I'm so incredibly grateful that I was able to visit (I live 3 hours away) with my children on this particular weekend and spend time with her; I never imagined it would be the last time I would ever see her in person or get to speak to her at all.) Shortly after she was sent home, she was readmitted to the hospital on the 17th. On the 18th, she was transferred to the ICU, still getting worse. On the 20th, she was intubated, and on the 23rd they put her in a medically induced coma and put her on a ventilator. Soon after that, she was transferred to Regions in St. Paul. Then, on February 4th, they made the decision to take her off the ventilator. She lived for 18 minutes and then she was gone. My grandma, who was such a permanent and well-known presence in a small town, who was so active up until a year ago when everything changed, is just...gone. Everyone who knew this tiny woman now has such a huge hole in their lives that can't be filled.

Today, February 6th, Traci and Krystena (joined by Herb [her ex-husband but still close friend], and Brian [her partner for the entire span of my life]) visited the funeral home to begin making the arrangements. At this time, they were told that the costs would be $8000. Sue had absolutely no savings whatsoever, and neither does Traci or Krystena.

Any assistance at this time would be extremely helpful and overwhelmingly appreciated.