Hey all!! My name is Hope aka Coco. I know I typically post really cutesy stuff in regards to myself or my students as I am an educator in middle school Special Education. OR when you see me, I always have a smile on my face and in good spirits! But I have honestly been going through one of the toughest times of life this past month and some change, and I’ve decided to be a little bit more transparent so here goes nothing!

On February 11th, I began having extreme pain in my right leg and hip that led me to the ER. During my visit, I was told I have a 5cm tumor sitting wall to wall in my femur. I tried to keep it together, but in that moment I felt like my whole world collapsed instantly.

I was immediately referred to an orthopedic surgeon who then told me that because of how big the tumor is, it’s thinning out my bone which could potentially make it snap in half if I don’t urgently do anything about it. He also mentioned that this surgery would be needed in order to have a biopsy done on the mass to determine whether or not it’s cancerous. Because of those factors, I have to have surgery ASAP to remove the tumor and have a rod inserted to stabilize the bone. He set the date of my surgery on March 23rd, so next Monday.

Unfortunately, I don’t have insurance to cover any of the costs, and I can’t lie, that’s really been stressing me out so much. So I’m now putting my pride to the side and reaching out to community for help! Any donation (big or small) or just simply sharing this post would help me out immensely. I honestly want to be able to get myself as healthy as I possibly can again not only for myself, but for my students because I can’t stand to be away from them this long!

Thank you so much for reading and if you have any questions, please let me know!