Hello friends & family,
My name is Gregory and some of you may already know that my mom, Kim Freeman, battled Stage IV Tongue/Neck cancer for most of 2024/2025. The short version of this fundraiser is that: even though all current scans do not show cancer any longer (hooray!), she has begun to experience serious side effects from the treatments, most notably the loss of all her teeth. She will require surgery and extensive dental repair which is very expensive and will require her to take from her (already humble) retirement fund. We're asking those of you who can spare a few dollars to help us mitigate that cost so that her quality of life will not suffer in her golden years. She's an absolute powerhouse for making it through those treatments so in my opinion, she deserves it! If you stop here, thanks so much for taking the time to look at our story and many deep thanks to those willing to donate.
If you're interested in the long version of the story, continue reading...
In April of 2024, I moved back home to Milton, FL from Austin, TX, after 20 years of being away from my hometown, to move back in with my mom, sister, and step-father so I could save up money, pay off debt, and eventually buy a home for my sister (or a family compound type living situation for all of us). Two months later, my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Fortunately, it did not appear to have spread to distant organs, so while severe, we were realistically hopeful it could be fully treated.
After being hospitalized during the biopsy, she was given a tracheostomy and eventually a feeding tube which she used 24/7 while the family helped maintain for many months. It took just about every free minute of everyone's day to take care of her, and even then it seemed daunting and sometimes hopeless. It did open my eyes to how difficult this situation can be for families, and my heart felt sorrowful for those in the world who unfortunately have to take this battle alone. That seems impossible to me.
After four rounds of chemotherapy, seven weeks of everyday radiation treatments, and 5 or 6 hospitalizations (we seriously lost count) later... she has shown no signs of cancer for just about a year now. Obviously still not in the clear, but we're extremely glad that she's at where she is now. But, enter the side effects, she has bad neuropathy, lots of difficulty eating anything but the softest foods, the aforementioned dental issue, among several others. So again, we're just trying to help her out to take care of some of these more expensive procedures that aren't covered by insurance. Thank you for reading our story. And many thanks to those who thought to spare a few dollars to help my mom have a decent life in the coming years.