<div>In April, two weeks after my 51st birthday, I was sent to the ER for intense abdominal pain. I had endured the pain for several months (thinking I had kidney stones from celery juice), but a five inch fall from kitchen counter suddenly felt like a broken back. And it was...
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<div>At the ER, I was informed that I had Multiple Myeloma - blood cancer - and I had fractures to the spine (x2), hip and rib. In fact, my spine generally looked (looks) like Swiss cheese. It was the worst day of my life, and it is still so intense to review the moments my life forever changed - in just minutes everything seemed to fall apart.
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<div>I was referred to the Bellingham Cancer Center where I began immediate treatment for the cancer with daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy. We discovered I had stage 3 Myeloma, which is a blood cancer, and it has been "festering" (oncologist's words) in my spine for a long, long time. Long enough to cause significant damage.
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<div>I will recover from the cancer. In fact, my body is otherwise pretty healthy, the cancer has not spread to my organs, and my bloodwork looks solid if you ignore the cancer markers like Kappa and Lambda Light Chains, etc.
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<div>There is quite a lot I can tell you, but I know the things I would be most interested in learning, and those are things like survivability (I will survive), treatment (I am getting excellent treatment, but need a stem cell transplant soon), remission (unlikely with this type of cancer, I will always have cancer), and hair loss (unavoidable with a stem cell transplant).
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<div>Treatment has been painful and intense. I am always in pain. I am always tired. I am always at the doctor. I have bruises all over. I am nauseous. My vocal cords won’t close so I’m always coughing. I worry all the time. But I take the steps I need to take to heal. One foot in front of the other…
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<div>I have completed radiation (see the proud photo of Holden and I in front of the massive radiation machine) and I will continue chemo until my "numbers go down." That will likely be sometime late Fall. To improve my chances of surviving, I will need a stem cell transplant at Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle. This is an intensive effort where I may be hospitalized for up to a month and outpatient for a month more. It is expensive.
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<div>Unfortunately, I did not have insurance when all this happened and I will not have insurance until next year. While the Cancer Center in Bellingham has been incredibly generous with financial aid, I can not even get an introductory appointment at Fred Hutch without insurance or more money to pay out of pocket. And I need to begin preparations for my stem cell transplant immediately as it can take a while to find a donor.
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<div>So, I am reaching out to friends and family for help to raise money to pay for my Fred Hutch expenses until insurance kicks in February 1st. Your money will go a long way not only to support my stem cell transplant, but also to help put groceries on the table, and to pay bills from private companies that don't accept Peace Health financial aid. Like lab work. Each Wednesday I need a $500 blood draw to ensure it is safe for me to proceed with chemo Friday. And this adds up. Also, in general, the expensive scans aren't covered. So I have a lot of bills and I have chemo and I raise a 14yo by myself. It's a lot, and I need support.
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<div>The lack of money is an incredible stressor (and so is the cancer, ha ha), but I am otherwise in good spirits and I am healing. I will survive. Four months ago I was hiking four miles every day and I intend to return to that level of activity in a year.
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<div>My spine doesn't look so good. The radiation killed most of the cancer in my spine, but left dramatic holes (where the cancer lived, and no longer lives). Those holes are collapsing. This week I learned my spine is also collapsing. That was/is really hard to accept. There's not an easy treatment for this, it's called Kyphosis and it be another intense expense.
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<div>So, it's a long road, but my spirits are high and my body is responding beautifully to treatment. The cancer seems to be less aggressive than we thought as time goes by and there are miracles at work. We are still in the thick of things and in the beginning, so I don't have lots of answers, but I do have faith.
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<div>And that is one thing I haven't mentioned yet - the extreme and profound faith I have - especially in my body to heal itself. I keep my spirits high, I love my child, I love my friends and my family, and I believe I’m prepared to master this journey called cancer.
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<div>Now I realize that day when I received my diagnosis, and I felt like everything was falling apart, that it was - but in a beautiful way - so that my life could come back together in a spirited newness. And life has vivid color and intense meaning when we are reminded of its fragility. Why are the fragile things so precious?
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<div>Please help me in my journey to heal and donate what you can. Thank you. I love you, too.
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Help Fund Life-Saving Treatment for a Brave Parent

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

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OneTrust next-app audience

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NextDoor Share Option Users

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US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

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Enhanced Story Experience Users

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Streaming widgets beta user

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GoFundMe Employees

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Mark Rieth IP Address

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Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

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checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

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UKCharities

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Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

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AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

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Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

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Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

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Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

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Survicate

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challenge-fundraisers

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CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

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