My name is Catie Clune I am fundraising for Judy Van Orden a loved local community member in West Marin and her daughter Serena, a resident of Santa Rosa.

Without going into an exhaustive list of challenges that have presented in Judy's life since the pandemic, it all escalated recently when she got the news that her 32-year-old daughter Serena, has stage 3 ovarian cancer that has spread extensively throughout her abdomen.

I can only imagine the one thing any mom would want, more than anything in the world, is to be able to support their child through life's most challenging times. This fundraiser is to help Judy and Serena meet some basic needs, so they have a bit more freedom to focus on this rollercoaster of appointments and procedures together.

Faced with some health issues of her own, Judy was forced to start thinking about the possibility of moving out of state and ultimately couldn't imagine living so far from Serena. With Serena's recent diagnosis Judy is more determined than ever to stay close to support her treatment and recovery.

These funds will ease some concern over immediate housing costs for both Judy and Serena over the next few months, and it will also support the cost of staying near UCSF which is required for certain windows of time during her treatment.

I am sure they will have a growing number of other costs down the road, but they both could really use some immediate help while they start figuring this all out.

As for Serena's condition, she is still in the very early stages of learning about her diagnosis and potential treatment options. There are still a lot of unknowns.

She initially took herself to the hospital having some severe symptoms including discomfort and trouble breathing. Since then she has returned to the hospital and had 4.3 liters of fluid drained from her abdomen. While that seemed to relieve some pain and pressure, she is still having trouble breathing. She has now been recommended for an appointment with a specialist.

We will continue to update as she feels comfortable doing so.

It is so challenging to survive in the Bay Area at this time, but the thing that keeps most people fighting to stick around is the community. Let's show Judy and Serena what our community is all about. Any amount helps more than you could even imagine!