Help Dana kick cancer for good!

When it rains it pours…

One of the happiest days in a girl’s life is her wedding day. Little did I know that in my case, it would lead to the hardest days for my family.

On August 1, 2021, both the day after my wedding and the day of my brother’s 21st birthday, my mom, Dana, noticed she had pain and swelling in her right leg. After weeks of various doctors’ appointments, tests, a biopsy, and continued pain, she was diagnosed with stage IV diffuse large B-cell Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The disease was aggressive, but she was ready to fight, with our family there by her side to support her. This was not our family’s first run-in with cancer.

My grandmother, Georgina, had been diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer the previous summer. She had gone through chemotherapy and was currently undergoing periodic infusions to manage her disease. My dad, Ben, moved mountains to make sure we all did everything we could to get my grandmother the best level of care and was ready to do the same for his wife. It took a lot of time and effort, but my dad is not one to complain. He spent countless hours coordinating tests, talking to doctors, going to appointments, and doing his due diligence with independent research. Since he is a small business owner, all these efforts equated to less time focused on his business and lost wages. Even when faced with adversity, Ben has done all he can to do what is right for the people who rely on him, both in his business and at home.

In mid-September, on my dad’s 54th birthday, my mom began going through chemo and experiencing many of the side effects that come with it. Plagued with nausea and episodic dehydration, she grew very weak and thin but knew she had to keep going to beat the cancer. In addition to my dad’s heroics in being the best patient advocate we ever could have asked for, my brother, Christian, stepped up and was there to help both my mom and grandmother on most weekdays. He kept them both fed, helped mom with anything she needed around the house, and administered our grandmother the insulin she needed at each meal. When he had to work, I was able to come to an arrangement with my job that I would either take off or shift my work-from-home hours on certain days so I could be there to help them in his place. It was a team effort made by all of us, with the help of our friends and family.

Dana finished her last round of chemo in late December 2021. A PET scan in February 2022 no longer showed evidence of the disease. She would need to go for subsequent scans every six months, given the initially aggressive state of her disease, but at that moment we breathed a sigh of relief that she was finally in the clear. Her physical recovery was slow, and at times discouraging. She wanted to get back to her “pre-cancer self,” but that was easier said than done. She had certainly improved, even if she was taking what she considered to be baby steps.

Fast forward to late summer 2022, Dana started feeling immense pain in her shoulders and leg. There were delays from the insurance company in approving her 6-month PET Scan, so the following weeks were filled with ER trips, steroid shots, and tears. The pain was debilitating. She could barely walk or even sit or lay down without feeling pain. She couldn’t get comfortable and rest; she was heavily sleep deprived.

September and October came and went with increased pain and still no PET Scan. By mid-November, she was experiencing pain swallowing. At her doctor’s insistence, she went to the ER for a diagnosis of expected pneumonia. After weeks of various tests and multiple spinal taps, it was determined that her cancer had relapsed and had spread to her spinal cord and brain, where multiple tumors were present.

Between two separate hospitals and intermittent stays at a rehabilitation facility for both physical and occupational therapy, Dana has not been in her home since just before Thanksgiving. She has been receiving inpatient chemotherapy, both intravenously and through her spinal cord. Due to her continued difficulty swallowing, she has gotten all her nutrition through a feeding tube for the past few months. Her hospital stays have been riddled with feeding tube complications, seizures, and more spinal taps than any person should have to endure. Due to the locations of the tumors, she has sustained nerve damage and is currently unable to walk or stand without assistance.

While we have all been standing by mom’s side through all of this, we soon had to juggle more health issues. In mid-January, my grandmother began a rapid decline due to compounding ailments. Thankfully, my uncle Jorge has been very involved in my grandmother’s care so that my dad can continue to devote most of his time to my mom.

Throughout all of this, my dad has made sure to advocate for his wife and be with her every step of the way. She is continuing to go through chemotherapy and will be receiving CAR T-cell therapy at the end of February. Upon successful administration of the CAR T-cell therapy, she will need an around-the-clock caregiver for 4 weeks and will be severely immunocompromised. This therapy is being done in the hope that her body will be able to destroy any future instances of cancer cells.

In addition to the physical and mental toll this has taken on all of us, there have been financial stresses as well. Medical bills have been ramping up without reprieve. While rehabilitation is only covered by insurance for a short stay, my dad will have to make significant modifications to my childhood home to make it more accessible for my mom’s return. Mom will likely need a home health aide to assist with her care, coupled with intense physical therapy to get her strength up.

These are all unforeseen expenses, and any assistance would be greatly appreciated.