My name is Julia Quinlan, and I’m raising funds to help support my family as we navigate the final stages of my mother Teresa Kleffel’s battle with Stage IV peritoneal cancer.

In March of 2024, Teresa went into the ER with severe stomach pain & bloating. This had been going on for years, with doctors always telling her it was GI related or brushing it off as something else. This time, they decided to do bloodwork & scans. They at that point had to break the news that it was STAGE IV Peritoneal cancer, a particularly rare and aggressive cancer of the lining of the abdomen, with a very low rate of long-term survival, even with treatment. There is no cure, to date. Without any treatment, they gave her 3-6 months. She turned that into 2.5+ years, undergoing multiple surgeries, and 6 brutal rounds of chemotherapy.

Anyone who has ever known Teresa knows that she is a tough cookie; stubborn, strong, and even at times, delusionally positive. Teresa’s daughter Julia’s son, Zephyr, came along at just the right time, as he is almost 3 years old, and has been her light and her joy and her biggest motivator for holding on. Indeed, he has been for the whole family. Teresa’s hope was to at least make it to see him off to Kindergarten, but unfortunately the aggressiveness of this disease has finally led she and her family to decide to discontinue treatment to allow her to rest and enjoy the time she has left in peace and comfort under hospice care. More recently, her prognosis has dwindled to about 4-6 weeks of survival, although they will always hope for more.

Julia, Sean, and Zephyr had moved into Teresa and Jim’s home shortly after diagnosis to help support the family, but, as they both work full-time jobs, Jim has (happily) become the daytime caretaker of Zephyr as well as his bed-bound wife.

As time goes on, however, both Teresa and Zephyr have required increasing levels of energy and care, and frankly, at 72 years old, Jim is worn out. Between his age and his own health issues, the grief of losing his father, sister, and younger brother to Alzheimer’s disease, his mother to pancreatic cancer, and currently his wife to another terminal disease, the last thing Jim needs to worry about is money, when he and his family should be focusing on quality time.

If you’ve ever known Jim, as many do, he’s never had much to brag about financially, but nevertheless has worked incredibly hard just about every damn day of his life. He wouldn’t even retire until his family forced him to. Jim has lent his time, his skills in carpentry, handiwork, building projects, musical talents and sound engineering, you-name-it, to anyone who might ask.

He played in many bands over the years spanning many genres. Everyone knows Jim Kleffel as kind and generous, honest, dutiful, funny, and as the kind of guy who would offer you the shirt off his back. Despite this, he has a very hard time asking for help. Now is the time to show Jim and Teresa and their family the support and kindness they’ve earned over the years during this devastating time.

Teresa will be forever known as a woman who loved being a mother to her children, “Mama K” to the neighborhood kids, and who loved her husband to the ends of the earth. Tough, and bright, generous, and warm, she still is and always will be a fighter for love and family. But it is time for her to rest now—peacefully, and surrounded by those she loves most.

She mentions even now that she worries for the family after she is gone, and her final hope is that her husband and family don’t have added struggle while they grieve and support her through this final transition.

Funds donated will go toward housing expenses, final bills, support for lost wages due to care for Jim and Teresa, and to create a beautiful Celebration of Life ceremony for loved ones after her passing.