Hello. My name is Dani (short for Danielle) and I want to share a story with you.

Do you have a hero? If so, who is it? Choosing my hero is easy. It’s my mom, Jodi Tauber. She isn’t just a mom to me, she is also my best friend and a huge supporter to me. A lot of you know her, whether you realize it or not. She is also commonly known as the “fishing lady” in our complex and community.

Originally from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, my mom moved down to Lakeland Florida in 2017 in hopes that the warmer weather would help her chronic pain. While she still has an occasional bad pain day, I have seen her thriving down here and living her best life. She loves to fish, spend time at the pool, diamond paint, watch her Blackhawks or Panthers games, cuddle with our dog Harry, and paint ceramic statues (which come out amazing).

Unfortunately all of those hobbies and interests have taken a back seat now, because we recently found out that she has breast cancer. I can tell she is trying to keep a brave face on, for me and my sister, but I know she is terrified.

One of the things that I admire most about my mom is that she is the bravest person I know. This wonderful woman has been through so much, and so much trauma. Although we are scared of this diagnosis, we know we are going to make it through this.

We are thankful that the doctors caught this somewhat early on (stage 1), and that it hasn’t spread for the most part. Unfortunately, the type of breast cancer she has is known to be a very aggressive one. We know that the treatment plan will be a marathon versus a sprint, and we are looking at a very extensive process. She is going to be getting a double mastectomy on 12/23/25, then she will need 6 rounds of chemo, followed by multiple radiation visits and rounds. Then after that she will need to get targeted therapy for a year.

She begun the treatment plan on 12/2, and had a port put in her, which they will administer the chemo and fluids through.

As you can probably imagine, this entire treatment plan will take a big toll on my mother’s physical state, mental state, and financial state. I will be there with her every step of the way, and support her as much as I possibly can, but there is still a very big issue at hand: Finances.

A very large concern of my mom’s is how is she going to afford all this treatment, and it is weighing very heavily on her mind. Because she is on disability and widow’s benefits, she only get’s paid a very small amount each month. It has been hard enough to make ends meet and we find ourselves unable to keep up with monthly bills, including the mortgage, and sometimes barely getting by with our food supply. It is very hard to talk about this matter with people outside our family, because we are honestly embarrassed sometimes and don’t like to make ourselves look vulnerable.

I wish so much that I can take the weight of this new and extra burden off her mind and chest, but I am powerless. I can see the issue and burden of not being able to afford the cancer treatments, weighing on her more and more each and every day. So I have made the decision to finally ask for help, which is something very hard for me to do.

We don’t know what the grand total of all the medical/treatment bills will be, but we have a baseline of at least $20K-30K. I have created this fundraiser in an attempt to ask for help, for the most wonderful and bravest person I know. Please know that this was a very hard decision to come to, as I don’t often ask for help. Your donations would cover her pre chemo scans and bloodwork, her multiple rounds of chemo, the inevitable mastectomy surgery, all the radiation needed after surgery, and finally the targeted therapy she will need to get every 3 weeks for an entire year. Any fundraiser donations will go to the cancer treatments, and ONLY the cancer treatments.

Please, if you are able, consider making a donation to help my mom get the treatment and procedures she needs, to beat this terrible thing. Any amount, no matter how large or small, you can possibly contribute to helping her out would be incredible, wonderful, and truly life saving.

We understand that some people will not be able to financially contribute, and that is completely okay. If you are unable to, can I please just ask you to keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers while she goes through this process?

Please continue to share this fundraiser, and her story, with whoever you can. Again, any contribution you can make towards her cancer treatments would be accepted and very much appreciated.

Thank you all so much. ❤️❤️