Mom's end of life expenses.

***Update - Mom passed away Thursday August 15, 2024. All funds will be used towards end of life services (cremation, head stone, celebration etc)

Our family is reaching out to friends and family for support in helping ease the financial burden and to provide a stress free environment as we navigate towards end of life care for our mother.

Mom’s health started to decline shortly after losing our Dad to cancer on 8/21/23. This has taken a toll on her but she’s remained positive and strong knowing she has her own battle to fight.

What started out as just a “tear in her tricep muscle” and months in agonizing pain, it turned out to be a fractured humerus/metastatic bone disease. After this diagnosis, the priority was surgery to repair the bone and prevent further damage. Shortly after surgery, Mom had countless tests, scans and appointments to confirm what we feared; cancer in several other places in her body. At first she was able to be a part of a clinical trial for certain type of chemotherapy, but that was short lived. After being admitted to the hospital to receive fluids and potassium, it was found that she had A-Fib & DVT (blood clots). During this hospitalization, Mom began getting headaches and was complaining of pain in her neck, which turned out to be more tumors. Mom eventually went home, chemotherapy resumed once her labs were normal, and had a few sessions of radiation therapy to the spots on her brain.

In the beginning of March, Mom had a fall while walking to the bathroom and broke her femur. She underwent another surgery to repair the bone and treatment was paused so she could heal properly. Shortly after being admitted to the hospital this time, Mom tested positive for Covid and also came down with Pneumonia and had to spend a few weeks in isolation. This put a damper on her being able to go to a rehab facility to work on her mobility. Eventually mom was discharged and came home very briefly but we soon realized it wasn’t safe for her to be home on her own yet. At some point along the way she spent some time in the ICU due to her increased oxygen need and fluid on her lungs. She had a thorocentesis done to remove the excess fluid and it was found that the cancer had moved to that fluid (which meant the chemo wasn’t working). A lesion was also found on one of her Aortic valves but the doctors were unsure of exactly what the cause was, it could be another tumor, blood clot, or infection.

Currently, Mom is at Alice Peck Day (where Christine works) finishing up a 6-week course of IV antibiotics to hopefully shrink the spot on her aortic valve. As of the other day, the antibiotics seem to be helping and the spot has gotten smaller. After the antibiotics are done (on 8/19) Mom will come home and begin home hospice. She has Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer all throughout her body (lungs, liver, brain, neck, bones) along with COPD, AFIB and numerous other diagnoses. She has received multiple different types of chemo along with radiation therapy, none of which have been effective / will improve her quality of life. At this point we have exhausted all our options, sadly.

When Mom comes home, we plan to enjoy whatever time she has left doing whatever she wants to do. Our biggest goal is to take a trip to Maine and spend a night or two at the beach so mom can watch the grandkids play and enjoy the sunshine. Most importantly, eat all the seafood she can stand (her and our dad both love fried seafood). Mom has expressed often that she wants to spend these next moments at home on the deck enjoying the sunshine, watching her grandkids play (and whether she likes it or not..most likely listening to her older kids arguing bickering :) )

Nothing would feel better than to have our people come together to show her some love. We understand times are tough so we appreciate anything you’re able to spare.

THANK YOU! ♥️