Help my mom beat cancer
Donation protected
If you had the pleasure of meeting Irene, she is a loving, honest, and kind soul with a contagious smile. She is the youngest of 6 siblings, a remarkable single mother of 4 children, and a wonderful grandmother to 4 grand-daughters. Her parents passed away near the age of 80 years old with absolutely no family history of colon cancer.
It all started in April 2019, when my siblings noticed our mother losing weight and without giving it a serious thought we predicted it was because she would skip dinner occasionally. As months passed by her symptoms persisted and in September 2019, she began to experience symptoms of constipation, complications of bowel movement, and blood in the stool. After seeing her primary care physician repeatedly for the same symptoms, her doctor couldn't determine what was wrong so he had her get a colonoscopy done. Within the next few weeks, she started to feel continuous abdominal pain that would last for hours.
On September 27, our whole life changed. The colonoscopy results came in and her doctor informed us that they had found a tumor in her colon. The pain was getting progressively worse that she couldn't bear it any longer, so they did emergency surgery to immediately remove the tumor at Pali Momi Hospital. October 1st the surgeon informed us that they had removed a mass from her hepatic flexure located top right of her colon and during the procedure, he saw some suspicious spots and predicted that cancer had spread to her abdominal wall and liver so they did a biopsy test. The final biopsy results returned the following week and she was tested positive diagnosing her with stage 4 colon cancer.
Two weeks after surgery our mom started to feel pain again and had a fever of 101. We took her to Queens Medical Center and they ordered her to do a STAT CT with contrast & PET abdomen/pelvis. When the results came back her oncologist said that there were fluids in her abdominal which needed draining. The fluids were numerous tumor deposits and advised to start chemotherapy immediately so that the tumor can stop growing. Once they drained our mom she felt less pain. Initially, our mom wasn't supposed to start chemo until six weeks after surgery but with three approvals from an infectionist, oncology surgeon and her oncologist, she was able to do her first cycle of chemotherapy which consists of Folfox on her third week and a combination of Folfox + Avastin on her second cycle.
During the weeks in between cycles was tough. She began to show symptoms of weakness, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, thinning of hair, and loss of appetite. She cries because she doesn't even have the strength to carry her newborn grandchild. We all encourage her to fight this cancer with prayers every day and read her healing verses from the book Healed of Cancer by Dodie Osteen.
In the month of November 2019, our mom had surgery for port insertion and was aided with IV hydration due to her fatigue and dehydration. During her second round of chemo, our mom started vomiting after getting IV hydration. Her oncologist said she shouldn't be feeling that way; therefore, he ordered her to do an X-Ray and saw that she had a bowel obstruction which causes a blockage in her intestine. We immediately took her to the ER to drain the backed up waste. They then inserted a NG tube through her nostril down to her stomach. Currently, they had also found out her kidneys were swollen. No words can express how difficult to see our mom go through this.
During this stressful time, there were many events taken place. Her youngest daughter Michelle just gave birth, her son Jay preparing for his future wedding in just a few months ahead, her eldest daughter Jennifer doing dialysis on weekly bases, and her second youngest daughter Hazel was just a few weeks into moving to New York for school but canceled all reservations with no refunds to stay back to help take care of our mom.
Our mom has been our hero since the day we were born. She's been so strong throughout the first two months but now we see it in our mother's eyes how scared she is. During this rough time, we all became closer to God and gotten more involved with our church. We are praying every day for our mom to gain strength to fight this war with cancer and praying for that miracle that she deserves. Our mom raised us four kids as a strong single mother and it is now our time to help her stay strong. There is so much for our mom to look forward to next year and year after. Her son’s wedding in March, her grand-daughters 1st birthday in September and more birthdays and holidays.
We kindly ask for help, whether it could be words of comfort and prayers, or if you are able to spare a monetary gift. It would be used to help with her daily necessities, such as alkaline water, premier protein drinks, medical CBD/THC, pharmaceutical and supplemental treatments. Most of all with her medical bills that are piling up. In addition, we hope each and everyone shares our story to as many people as we can in hopes of miracle treatment.
This is a long and hard battle that our mom is fighting. We have already spread cancer awareness on social media because we never want anyone to go through this.
As the year comes to an end, we just wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you all for taking the time to read our mom’s story and thank you all for your continuous support and prayers. We will keep this page updated.
Mahalo from our Ohana,
Irene, Hazel, Jen, Michelle, & Jay
It all started in April 2019, when my siblings noticed our mother losing weight and without giving it a serious thought we predicted it was because she would skip dinner occasionally. As months passed by her symptoms persisted and in September 2019, she began to experience symptoms of constipation, complications of bowel movement, and blood in the stool. After seeing her primary care physician repeatedly for the same symptoms, her doctor couldn't determine what was wrong so he had her get a colonoscopy done. Within the next few weeks, she started to feel continuous abdominal pain that would last for hours.
On September 27, our whole life changed. The colonoscopy results came in and her doctor informed us that they had found a tumor in her colon. The pain was getting progressively worse that she couldn't bear it any longer, so they did emergency surgery to immediately remove the tumor at Pali Momi Hospital. October 1st the surgeon informed us that they had removed a mass from her hepatic flexure located top right of her colon and during the procedure, he saw some suspicious spots and predicted that cancer had spread to her abdominal wall and liver so they did a biopsy test. The final biopsy results returned the following week and she was tested positive diagnosing her with stage 4 colon cancer.
Two weeks after surgery our mom started to feel pain again and had a fever of 101. We took her to Queens Medical Center and they ordered her to do a STAT CT with contrast & PET abdomen/pelvis. When the results came back her oncologist said that there were fluids in her abdominal which needed draining. The fluids were numerous tumor deposits and advised to start chemotherapy immediately so that the tumor can stop growing. Once they drained our mom she felt less pain. Initially, our mom wasn't supposed to start chemo until six weeks after surgery but with three approvals from an infectionist, oncology surgeon and her oncologist, she was able to do her first cycle of chemotherapy which consists of Folfox on her third week and a combination of Folfox + Avastin on her second cycle.
During the weeks in between cycles was tough. She began to show symptoms of weakness, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, thinning of hair, and loss of appetite. She cries because she doesn't even have the strength to carry her newborn grandchild. We all encourage her to fight this cancer with prayers every day and read her healing verses from the book Healed of Cancer by Dodie Osteen.
In the month of November 2019, our mom had surgery for port insertion and was aided with IV hydration due to her fatigue and dehydration. During her second round of chemo, our mom started vomiting after getting IV hydration. Her oncologist said she shouldn't be feeling that way; therefore, he ordered her to do an X-Ray and saw that she had a bowel obstruction which causes a blockage in her intestine. We immediately took her to the ER to drain the backed up waste. They then inserted a NG tube through her nostril down to her stomach. Currently, they had also found out her kidneys were swollen. No words can express how difficult to see our mom go through this.
During this stressful time, there were many events taken place. Her youngest daughter Michelle just gave birth, her son Jay preparing for his future wedding in just a few months ahead, her eldest daughter Jennifer doing dialysis on weekly bases, and her second youngest daughter Hazel was just a few weeks into moving to New York for school but canceled all reservations with no refunds to stay back to help take care of our mom.
Our mom has been our hero since the day we were born. She's been so strong throughout the first two months but now we see it in our mother's eyes how scared she is. During this rough time, we all became closer to God and gotten more involved with our church. We are praying every day for our mom to gain strength to fight this war with cancer and praying for that miracle that she deserves. Our mom raised us four kids as a strong single mother and it is now our time to help her stay strong. There is so much for our mom to look forward to next year and year after. Her son’s wedding in March, her grand-daughters 1st birthday in September and more birthdays and holidays.
We kindly ask for help, whether it could be words of comfort and prayers, or if you are able to spare a monetary gift. It would be used to help with her daily necessities, such as alkaline water, premier protein drinks, medical CBD/THC, pharmaceutical and supplemental treatments. Most of all with her medical bills that are piling up. In addition, we hope each and everyone shares our story to as many people as we can in hopes of miracle treatment.
This is a long and hard battle that our mom is fighting. We have already spread cancer awareness on social media because we never want anyone to go through this.
As the year comes to an end, we just wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you all for taking the time to read our mom’s story and thank you all for your continuous support and prayers. We will keep this page updated.
Mahalo from our Ohana,
Irene, Hazel, Jen, Michelle, & Jay
Organizer
Hazel Gacula
Organizer
Honolulu, HI