Help Jenn Laakso Fight Like A Mother!
Donation protected
Jenn and I are cousins but she’s more like my sister. We were born 6 weeks apart, grew up living around the block from each other, wore the same Halloween costumes, and had sleepovers every weekend. Each of our babies were born a few months apart from each other too.
In September 2019, life dealt Jenn an extremely unfair and horribly timed card. Two weeks after her 3rd precious and bald baby girl was born, she was told the words no one wants to hear- this could be cancer. When the baby was only 4 weeks old, she had to undergo a tonsillectomy in order to biopsy her tumor. The surgery involved a difficult recovery, while she was already recovering from her daughter’s delivery. The results of the biopsy confirmed the doctors suspicions: Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-hodgkin's Lymphoma.
In the months that have passed, Jenn has undergone 4 intense chemotherapy treatments and is now completing 2 rounds of Rituxan immunotherapy with the hopes of seeing a clear PET scan in March. She should have been snuggling her sweet baby and enjoying her maternity leave. Instead, her maternity leave has been spent undergoing cancer treatments.
She has to wear a mask if the kids are sick or when changing diapers when she’s neutropenic (has no immune system about a week after chemo). She also couldn’t hold or touch the kids without gloves for 72 hours after every chemotherapy treatment.
As a full time working mom, when Jenn’s maternity leave ended in November she had to extend her time out of work virtually unpaid (she is working with her insurance to try and collect disability, but even this will barely cover the cost of health insurance premiums for a family of 5). Her husband is also self employed and commission based. He has had to lose time at work to help care for her during treatment. The cost of just one month of chemotherapy treatment is over $116,000, which thankfully they have health insurance. But they also have high deductibles and out of pocket maximums that they will have to cover for both 2019 and 2020, since her treatments have extended over the new year.
Their parents have been helping them tremendously, and they will come out of this okay, but so many of us have been asking how we can help too! Unfortunately, many of us are too far away to actually help them with daily tasks throughout these treatments, so I thought this page would be a good way for us all to pitch in and help in any way we can!
My goal for this page is to create an account for them to use toward some of their insurance bills and monthly expenses that have added up while her half of the family's income is missing. I know they are so appreciative of you all and the love and support they have been shown over the past few months! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
In September 2019, life dealt Jenn an extremely unfair and horribly timed card. Two weeks after her 3rd precious and bald baby girl was born, she was told the words no one wants to hear- this could be cancer. When the baby was only 4 weeks old, she had to undergo a tonsillectomy in order to biopsy her tumor. The surgery involved a difficult recovery, while she was already recovering from her daughter’s delivery. The results of the biopsy confirmed the doctors suspicions: Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-hodgkin's Lymphoma.
In the months that have passed, Jenn has undergone 4 intense chemotherapy treatments and is now completing 2 rounds of Rituxan immunotherapy with the hopes of seeing a clear PET scan in March. She should have been snuggling her sweet baby and enjoying her maternity leave. Instead, her maternity leave has been spent undergoing cancer treatments.
She has to wear a mask if the kids are sick or when changing diapers when she’s neutropenic (has no immune system about a week after chemo). She also couldn’t hold or touch the kids without gloves for 72 hours after every chemotherapy treatment.
As a full time working mom, when Jenn’s maternity leave ended in November she had to extend her time out of work virtually unpaid (she is working with her insurance to try and collect disability, but even this will barely cover the cost of health insurance premiums for a family of 5). Her husband is also self employed and commission based. He has had to lose time at work to help care for her during treatment. The cost of just one month of chemotherapy treatment is over $116,000, which thankfully they have health insurance. But they also have high deductibles and out of pocket maximums that they will have to cover for both 2019 and 2020, since her treatments have extended over the new year.
Their parents have been helping them tremendously, and they will come out of this okay, but so many of us have been asking how we can help too! Unfortunately, many of us are too far away to actually help them with daily tasks throughout these treatments, so I thought this page would be a good way for us all to pitch in and help in any way we can!
My goal for this page is to create an account for them to use toward some of their insurance bills and monthly expenses that have added up while her half of the family's income is missing. I know they are so appreciative of you all and the love and support they have been shown over the past few months! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Organizer and beneficiary
Katrina Edwards
Organizer
North Attleborough, MA
Jennifer Laakso
Beneficiary
