Hi, my name is Laurie (Hale) Cagley.

I didn't want to set up a GoFundMe for myself, but my family is so busy and stressed and I'm just lying here in bed... I got the worst news of my life this month. To make a long story short, I'm dying. My fight has hardly begun, up until now, the cancer has been winning, because it was hiding... But now that we've found the beast, hopefully we can beat it.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with nodular melanoma. After having it removed and lymph nodes checked, doctors assured me they got it all. But I know melanoma is sneaky. I never felt like they did enough scans or follow-ups... I always feared it would come back... It's the last thing I'd ever want to be "right" about. When I got really sick, I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew something was very wrong. I pushed the doctors, but I got lame "answers" like I'm having medication side effects or indigestion or bone spurs "but we don't do anything about those"... But I kept pushing, especially when my chin went numb. That's when I got some concerning blood test results, and even more concerning Google results.

I became sicker and sicker... Nausea, vomiting... My stomach started to swell... A little bloating at first... But soon it looked like I was 8 months pregnant. I couldn't take it anymore. I went to Urgent Care, who sent me to ER, where my worst fears were confirmed. My pelvis was full of tumors, my abdomen swelling with fluid (ascites) from the cancer. I was suffering from stage 4 metastatic melanoma. And they think it's in my bones. I've been scheduled for radiation on my hip and to see an oncologist who I'm sure will refer me for immunotherapy. The wait is terrifying. I want to start fighting. It feels like every moment I'm not beating it, it's beating me.

I feel like such a burden, with surgery, with all these appointments, with how sick I've been... No longer able to care for the housework, the children, and the pets like I used to. My husband (a high school teacher) having to take time off work, to do all the things I used to do, and to top it off, our cars are breaking down/not being reliable. My mother and his mother, a seniors who should be enjoying their retirement, chipping in a ton to help with the kids and housework... And the kids, the youngest ones (5 and 6), they don't know what's going on... They just know mommy is sick and tired and can't run or play anymore. My older 2 (young adults), I think they are starting to understand the gravity of the situation. I can't shield them from the truth forever as much as I want to.

So I'm humbly asking for some help... It's all I can do right now. Help to cover the mounting medical bills and day-to-day expenses, help to get our cars running again to get me to and from appointments, help for the loss of wages my family will incur as they care for me. I want to fight this as hard as I can, I am trying to be optimistic. They have really good treatments for melanoma these days, and new advancements all the time. The "odds" look bad, but I'm not a statistic... I'm an individual, and there's no expiration date stamped on the bottom of my foot. But it's going to be a hard battle, the biggest fight of my life... I could use all the help I can get, more for my wonderful loving family than for me. They are trying to stay strong for me - and me for them - but I know how much they're hurting too. So if you could find it in your heart to even just say a prayer or light a candle for my family, it'd mean a lot to us.

❤️ Laurie