Help Angela Annihilate Cancer

Hello everyone-

My name is Amy Gallaway, and I am putting this GoFundMe together for my amazing friend Angela Ameno. Anyone that knows Ang (and Nick) knows how wonderful they are and that they’re the first to show up and help when anyone (or any kitty) is in need. I created this fundraiser in hopes of bringing a little financial support for the unknown road of treatment and recovery that Ang now must face.

If you can help with a donation at this time, any amount is appreciated. If you are unable to donate, please share and continue to send prayers and well wishes as they are appreciated more than you know.

Thank you on behalf of myself, Angela & Nick and all of their family and friends for your support!

Back in September Angela got what she thought was a canker sore on her tongue. This was unusual for her, but not unheard of and she just assumed that she had bit it at some point.

However, by mid October it was still there and that was unheard of for her. She saw the PA and the other doctor at the practice where she is a patient as her PCP was unavailable. Both were not concerned. She was prescribed a mouthwash, told to keep an eye on it, and if it wasn’t better in a couple of weeks, to go see her dentist.

This just didn’t sit well with her, so she called her dentist immediately and got in with him that day. He was also not concerned and suggested she just keep an eye on it. She then insisted that this sort of thing was not the norm for her and wanted to have it biopsied, so he referred her to an oral surgeon.

The first available appointment with the oral surgeon wasn’t until the beginning of December, though. Although cancer was in the back of her mind, she honestly did not think it was cancer, she thought it was an autoimmune issue; so didn’t push for an earlier appointment. She was just satisfied that she was going to get some answers fairly soon.

The first week in December she met with the oral surgeon. He also wasn’t too concerned about cancer as she has never smoked, vaped, or chewed tobacco. He also thought it was an autoimmune issue, but either way, a biopsy was needed.

They scheduled a follow up appointment for Friday the 22nd, but she got a call a week early asking if she could come in asap and knew this was not good… she was right, the diagnosis was cancer. They were wonderful, though; they had already reached out to an oncologist at Roswell Park (a leading cancer center in the country, thankfully here in Buffalo), and scheduled her an appointment.

Angela met with the oncologist Tuesday December 19th and he set her up officially as a patient at Roswell Park. She had face, neck and chest scans on December 27th and surgery has been scheduled for January 11th to remove the cancerous part of her tongue along with some or all lymph nodes from the left side of her neck depending on what they see when they get in there.

Right now, her oncologist believes it’s stage one and that it’s been caught it early. Everything will be sent out for testing and then when the pathology results come back, he will know if she will need to do anything further… radiation, chemo, etc.

While Angela does have medical insurance, it will unfortunately not cover everything. Unlike the Universal Health Coverage in Canada (and no, she can’t just go back there for her surgery/treatment), she has to pay copays for each and every doctor visit, test, and procedure and is almost at $1,000 out of pocket up to this point! This is BEFORE her surgery and her hospital stay…and her costs could skyrocket; especially if further treatment like chemo or radiation is required. There is also a chance she will need speech therapy depending on how much of her tongue needs to be removed.

I know anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated by Ang and Nick. They need to focus on her getting better and not stress about the financial side of things.