Help for Heather

I always tell people that saying Heather is my “best friend” just does not feel like enough. Heather is my family and has been in my life for 35 years. In that time, she has always been one of the most hard-working people that I know, which did not change when she became a mom. Being a single mom for almost most of her 9-year-old son’s life, those hard-working qualities have proven to be essential for her family’s needs and wants. She is used to figuring things out on her own and doing whatever needs to be done and believe me, she works her ass off. She had much hesitation and needed a lot convincing to let me share her story, but her story needs to be shared. Her story could be any one of ours and I hope that we will be able to help relieve some stress and give her the support she needs to fight, recover, and heal. We need her here-her family, her friends, her boyfriend, and especially her kids. Please consider helping my best friend.

Heather has been experiencing unknown pain in her abdomen since October and in the couple of months following, she went to several doctors and had a lot of tests done. After many tests, doctors, and her growing pain, she found out on her 45th birthday that she has bile duct cancer, also called cholangiocarcinoma. The prognosis was extremely scary to say the least. She spent the next month or so with more tests, doctors, pain, unknowns, anxiety, all the while holding it from many of her loved ones until she found out exactly with what she was dealing. As this rare type of cancer does not respond to chemotherapy, surgery with complete removal is the only option for a positive outcome. Surgery was only an option if it did not spread and if she was a healthy candidate for surgery. By the grace of God, it did not spread, and she is a candidate for surgery! She has a major surgery scheduled for February 9th to remove the tumor, her gall bladder, and up to 50% of her liver. After the surgery, it will take about 3 months for her recovery and until she can return to the three jobs that she works to support her family.

Heather is self-employed and works as a server and bartender. She has already lost many shifts over the last few months due to all the appointments, procedures, and tests. Due to her now constant pain and getting ready for this surgery, she recently had to stop working altogether. She needs help. I would love to help reduce some of the stress she is under during such a difficult time. Medical bills, rent, utilities, etc. cannot be what she is concerned with right now. She needs to recover and heal and live for a long time for all of us who love her so. Please pray for a successful surgery and a full recovery. If you can help and donate, she (we) would be forever grateful.