Hazim and Thana's Medical and Living Expenses

Edit: words cannot express the amount of gratitude we have towards the outpouring of love and support that has emerged. If the goal ends up met, we will keep the gofundme up for those who wish to help out afterwards with ongoing expenses. From my family to you, thank you all so much again. 

Hi everyone, I'm creating this gofundme for my parents, Thana and Hazim Tarsha. My family has experienced an extensive list of hardships these past few years, especially medically. Briefly put it consists of breast cancer, lung cancer, herniated discs, and a heart stent, which is elaborated on throughout this description. We are a small family, consisting of my parents, my older brother and myself (me being the younger sister.) We are extremely close and most of all resilient. Regardless of the diagnosis or hardship, we all have been expending our maximum efforts to ensure that our small family is doing the best it can be. So far my brother and I have been helping our parents financially (along with emotionally and physically) to the best of our abilities, however it has come to a point where we need to start asking for help.

 

The first medical hardship experienced by my family was when my mother was diagnosed with sciatica and two herniated discs back in late 2019. This left her bedridden for months in excruciating pain and required her to be flown overseas to receive life changing surgery. Given how hopeless we were for the duration of those months, the thought of her being able to properly sit up again, let alone walk, was unimaginable. Miraculously, within an hour of arriving to the airport in Amman, Jordan she was rushed to the hospital for surgery, and the morning after surgery she was able to sit up and walk again. We finally saw hope, and thought that life would resume as it once did. Little did we know, only a few months later my mom would be given the distressing diagnosis of breast cancer (February, 2020.)

 

Her journey of battling breast cancer was an uphill battle. It consisted of an endless amount of ultrasounds, mammograms, ct and pet scans. Initially we were informed that at most she would require surgery and hopefully that would be it. Of course, life never goes as planned as we unfortunately know all too well. Due to an enlarged lymph node, her treatment plan changed over night and without caution we were informed she would need chemotherapy and radiation. Ultimately her treatment plan consisted of 6 months of chemotherapy, 3 surgeries, months of recovery in between and 2 months of radiation. Since then her scans have thankfully come back negative and she has an upcoming biopsy of the area once more to confirm that there are hopefully no traces of cancer. Her diagnosis has left her with 10 years of daily medication ahead of her and unpredictable side effects, which we are currently attempting to navigate through (dizzy/fainting spells). After her last round of radiation my family began to breathe a sigh of relief thinking the days of continuous doctor appointments would be behind us... Once more, little did we know life had other plans.

 

2 weeks after my mothers final radiology appointment, (May, 2021) my father began experiencing some sharp pain and discomfort in his upper chest. This began his own extensive list of scans and doctor appointments. My dad was referred to a cardiologist and pulmonologist. After a few different stress tests, it was determined that he would require a heart stent given a block located in one of his arteries. Thankfully the procedure went well and he was prescribed some medication which he is expected to take for years to come as well. We were hoping after the procedure his chest pain would dissipate, however he insisted that the feeling was still there. We persisted with the pulmonologist, given that the cardiologist had done all they could. The pulmonologist requested a scan of his chest which then revealed the true culprit behind his pain, a 3 cm mass located in his lung. The pulmonologist braced us for the worst and informed us that she required a sample of the mass to confirm our biggest fear. After consulting with both doctors, it was determined that a typical biopsy would be too risky given his recent heart stent, but given the urgency of the matter, a bronchoscopy was our only alternative. The procedure was dangerous and required a waiver to be signed due to how many complications could arise. We are beyond thankful that the surgeon worked fast and was able to control the bleeding that did occur. After approximately a month of waiting for the biopsy and pet scan results, our biggest fear was confirmed and my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. It had spread throughout his lungs, to his liver and possible in other lymph nodes which qualifies it to be stage 4. His treatment plan consists of chemotherapy with immunotherapy for the first four rounds of treatment, and then afterwards only chemotherapy every 3 weeks. He has already begun his treatments and has been doing well! However, given both of my parents diagnosis these past few years, they are unable to work to the capacity they used to, if at all.

 

The lethal threat of COVID is prevalent at every outing, and we do not take this threat lightly. My parents can barely work as it is given the limitations of their bodies and health. They work very little hours and the days they are scheduled to work, majority of the time they leave work early because the mental and physical stress is too much for them to handle. This gofundme was created not only to hopefully cover the medical expenses that have accumulated over the years and to ensure that my parents can still receive the necessary treatment they need. Including my mothers upcoming biopsy and my fathers chemotherapy's, which we were informed could be for life. But it is also to help cover the living expenses that is becoming harder to meet every day. There is only so much my brother and I can do to help cover all the bills, and given how long things have been going on, it's becoming a lot harder to manage on our own. We have attempted filing disability for my mom multiple times, only for it to continuously be denied. As for my dad, we are still attempting to go about filing disability for him, but it is a very long process. As a last resort we're reaching out for help. Anything and everything that could be donated would be beyond appreciated. If you are unable to donate, sharing it would be equally appreciated. Thank you all so much.