Heather Nye

For the last 6 years Heather Nye has been battling Glioblastoma Multiforme. This is the deadliest form of brain cancer there is. Her husband Isaac has had to step away a few times over the last 4 years from his career as an IT executive to act as Heather’s caretaker and to spend more precious time with her. In October of 2012 Heather collapsed and was taken by ambulance to the ER. There they did a CT and an MRI which found a softball size tumor in the back-left side of her brain. She was originally given 2 years and has beat 3 tumors thus outliving that expectancy. In that time, she has seen 2 of the best Neuro Oncologist in the nation at UCLA and UCSD. In 2013 she went through stereotactic radiation therapy to rid her left hippocampus of a Glioblastoma tumor. She had a recurrent tumor in 2015 and through chemotherapy she beat that one too. Shortly after that she started having extremely damaging seizures that have caused her to lose her speech, total blindness in the right eye, complete immobility on her right side, and major incontinence. In November her mobility worsened and she was taken to UCSD. In that time, she had several problems battling hypoglycemia, extreme head pain, and high blood pressure. She was eventually moved to a rehabilitation facility. This past January it was found that necrosis from the radiation therapy in 2013 has caused necrosis to creep through the brain and is starting to shut down key parts of her brain. On Friday February 9th she came home from that rehabilitation facility and is now in hospice at her home. The family is now going through every emotion you can possibly imagine and they want to do everything they can in the time that they have. She has started a bucket list which includes, a beach house (already taken care or), a trip to Disneyland, a padre game, and the hope to see Andre Bocelli in concert this June 21st at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. In the meantime, her husband has started a new job. His schedule is not very flexible.  Isaac, Heather’s Mother Diane, and caretakers from a caretaking firm, take shifts to look after her and make her comfortable. You see, she has been given 3-8 months to live and the family is doing their best to make her last days painless, joyous, and loving. She is being weaned off her steroids and has completely stopped her chemo therapy. This will take place over the next 6 weeks and at the end of those 6 weeks, she expected to be at her most vulnerable and could have a major seizure or stroke that would most likely take her life. The caretaker’s cost $20 per hour and that can reach in upwards of $1000 per week. Many people have asked to help and many have already brought meals, paid for a bucket list item, and have come to visit. The family just plain and simply can’t afford to operate like this. If you can help donate to the costs of care or towards the bucket list items it would be the greatest thing you can do for them right now. Your love, prayers, thoughts, and donations are all so very much appreciated.