Hello everyone,

About two months ago, our family found out that my sister Christiane was suffering from cancer. The doctors quickly found a series of tumors in her tongue, and since then, our family has been fighting a legal battle to get her health insurance to cover her treatment. We managed to begin her treatment, but we are currently struggling to cover everything.

When this all began, my sister was working two different jobs to support her family, and she suddenly felt a strange sting in her tongue. She brushed it off in the beginning as some minor problem that would go away with time. However, weeks went by and the pain never went away, but continued to increase. The pain was followed by large bleeding bumps appearing on her tongue, which rendered her unable to eat. She spent roughly two months in this state trying to tough through the pain to continue working for her family.

When she was not able to bear the pain anymore, she finally confided in us about her state. We took her to see a physician as soon as possible, and right then and there she was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. They would only need a biopsy to confirm the type of cancer she was suffering from. Unfortunately, due to insurance regulations in our home country, her insurance was not going to cover any of her treatment in the foreseable future.

We had to begin a legal process against her insurance, so they could at least cover the beginning of her treatment, which would entail the biopsy, a series of MRIs, the placing of a feeding tube on her stomach and a catheter on her chest to alleviate her pain, and posterior radiotherapy and chemotherapy. When we finally got her insurance to cooperate after taking legal actions against them, we unfortunately found ourselves in the face of another roadblock.

Her oncologist explained us that due to the stage of her condition, she will require an invasive dental surgery to prepare her to receive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She elaborated that as she is, the risks of her dying during therapy are very high, and since this is considered a dental procedure, there is no way to have her health insurance cover this. The only way to have this done is paying out of pocket. The procedure itself is at minimum $3,500, which is beyond our family's reach.

The rest of our gofundme goal is to cover the other costs surrounding her treatment, such as feeding bags that are compatible with the tube she is eating through, which cost roughly $150 per bag and count for a single meal, medications to help her with her pain and to aid with her episodes of depression, vitamins to keep her nourished, and physical therapy. In addition, the extra funds will also help our family facilitate her treatment by ensuring we have the funds for mobilization to the locations where she will receive radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and procedures, as well as other expenses in case of emergency.

Due to the her rapid deterioration and lack of resources, we are running against time to save my sister's life. I would sincerely appreciate any support that can be offered to my family.