Help Funeral Costs for Tara Rowe

Introduction

Tara Rowe turned 20 this year, 2021. This should've been a year filled joy and adventures and college semesters. Instead this has been a year filled with heartache, and surgeries but it has also been a year of strength and courage. Before you skip to and read about the medical struggle she has went through this year I want to take a moment to tell you about her life, because that's how she would want it.

About Tara

Tara is a light. She is the sweetest human I've ever met, she's humble, she's kind, she's accepting and she's understanding. Show her a picture of an elephant-or any animal really but elephants are her favorite-and you'll see her light up with such joy. Her life hasn't been easy, she lost both of her parents within six months of each other when she was just thirteen (13). Still she's fought. She's battled depression and anxiety continuously over the years but somehow she's always came out on top. 2020 was a hard year for most people but she used it to grow substantially. She overcame some of her anxieties, started regularly seeing her therapist, got on medications for her mental health and became so much stronger as she started to kick depression's butt and become the human she was meant to be. She wanted to become a teacher. She loves little kids, she was hoping to teach kindergarten or pre-K. She wanted to help children with their cognitive learning. She also had plans to become a foster parent one day. Her idea was to focus older children, or children less likely to get adopted. She wanted to make sure that every child that came to her knew they were loved and weren't alone. She loved animals of all kinds, while guinea pigs and elephants are her favorites she is a co-mom to 3 cats and a tortoise, and a primary mom to puppy who's about to turn 1 and Two guinea pigs that she took in and has an immense love for. While it's understood the world will keep spinning it's also understood that it will be a much dimmer place without her in it.

Medical Struggle This Year

In late January Tara got diagnosed with melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. In March she went in for her first surgery to remove the initial tumor and take a lymph node. That's when we found out it was stage III. March was filled with repeated hospital visits. She found out she was allergic to an antibiotic, spent a full day in the ER trying to break her fever and rash, her body rejected the staples from the surgery resulting in her having to carry around a wound vac until late April and post-pone the much needed treatment. During this time she also had her port put in for when she would start her Immunotherapy.

By the time late April came around and she was cleared to start treatment her port had flipped, this was just a minor complication however it made accessing the port painful for her as they had to hold it just the right way to get the needle in. She was two treatments down in early June when we were back in the ER for pain and numbness in her right side. This visit found not one but two blood clots on her right side, one was around her neck and the other in her chest heading towards her lungs, both of these were a result and semi-rare side effect of the port. A couple days in the hospital to make sure she was stable, a prescription for blood thinners and she was on her way.

Fast forward to early July, she was three treatments deep when she started having some severe pains in her right side. At first she thought they were menstrual cycle related and ignored them. Each day got worse though and one day she expressed concern that she wouldn't be able to go to work the next day- yes through all of this she continued to work her full time fast food job when she wasn't in the hospital- this sent a red flag to her partner and they checked back into the ER. This is the turning point of the year. At the hospital it was discovered that she had a 5cm tumor growing near her right ovary. It was pressing on muscle and bone, wrapped around nerves and was making it very difficult for her to walk, every moment was painful. The decision was made to remove the tumor rather than try radiation. On August 3rd she went in for surgery and things went well. A few days later she was discharged and sent home to recover with instructions to stay out of work for 6 weeks. There was of course some after surgery pain, the tumor was 11cm when they removed it after all, but she started to get better. Any pain or swelling was just written up to post surgery.

In early September she went back to work, this time opting for part time, had a meeting with her oncologist, and given a new treatment plan. The plan was to start radiation for 5 weeks over the spot of the last tumor just to make sure to grab any crumbs left behind and then to start the pill form of treatment afterwards. It was understood here that the IV treatment likely did not work for her and her cancer was aggressive. We just didn't realize how aggressive.

Before radiation could even start we were back in the ER on September 12th with severe pain on her right side, she thought it could've been a kidney stone. It was actually another tumor. This time it was 12cm at its largest point and it was pressing on her ureter, making her right kidney struggle. A stint was put in and she was released on the 13th. On the 15th she went back, she was having more pain in her stomach, and her leg was starting to swell. She was told the pain was a cause of the stint and the leg might be the tumor but they discharged her anyway. She decided to follow the Dr.'s words and went home to give the pain meds a chance. The 17th at 4am she woke up screaming and we were back at a different ER at 5am. This visit revealed a "pretty big" blood clot in her right leg, fluid building up in her stomach, and the cancer spreading throughout her stomach. As of October 6th she has been giving five (5) bags of blood because her hemoglobin keeps dropping, she's yet to eat even 1/2 of the equivalent to a single full meal since she's been here, they've drained 4.5L of fluid out of her stomach on two separate occasions, she fought through her creatine levels getting excessively high causing issues with her kidneys. A catheter has been put in and those are starting to level out, however because of the kidney issues the doctors are unable to use any contrast to try and figure where/if she has an internal bleed.

The original thought that once she got healthy enough to leave the hospital she would start treatment has been abandoned due to the unlikely hood she will get to leave the hospital. They're going to start the treatment tomorrow, on the 7th. If the treatment works it could extend her life and potentially give us a few months to hold on to her. However, in the sadly likely event that the treatment doesn't work she is looking at mere weeks. So here we are setting up a gofundme to raise money for an event that no one who knew her expected to happen and we thank each and everyone of you who can share this or donate.

She is perpetually exhausted and due to covid the hospital is only allowing one visitor up at a time so we must unfortunately ask that you refrain from coming by so that time can be saved for her immediate family.

Money Talk

We're still in the early process of planning and calling and getting quotes, we thought we had much more time, and honestly we're not sure how much time we have. Regardless of how long she has and how much is made before the inevitable happens we want to emphasize that every single penny donated will go towards the Funeral/Burial costs for Tara.

Thank you again.