Help Linda Overcome Cancer Again

If you’ve been to the Kiski Garden Center over the last 26 years, then you know Linda! Linda is one of the most caring, stylish, fun-loving, helpful, and knowledgeable women I’ve ever known. She would quite literally give you the shirt off her back. If you know you Linda, you know she had a very serious health battle last year.

In February 2023, she underwent emergency colon resection surgery for an obstruction in her abdomen. After a battery of tests and a lengthy hospital stay, the doctors diagnosed her with stage 4 cancer. What began in her colon had spread to her surrounding organs, including her lung. After this lengthy stay in the hospital, she completed six rounds of chemotherapy to shrink the tumors in hopes of surgically removing them. After almost a year of treatment and surgeries, the doctors ended up removing 10% of her lung, part of her spleen, ovaries, uterus, and appendix. They also did three hernia repair surgeries. She made a miraculous recovery and continued to work at the Kiski Garden Center while receiving chemotherapy. She returned again and again as she recovered from each surgery. We all worried, prayed, cried, and sent cards and well wishes.

If you stopped in and Linda wasn’t there, you’d immediately ask Dave, Pat, or Judy, Where is Linda ? How is Linda? When is Linda coming back? Linda never asked anyone for anything. She went about life as if it never happened, she never complained; she resumed normal duties at home and work, like lugging around heavy bags of topsoil, dog food, and bird seed, without a second thought. The doctors finally gave her the all-clear after six months of clear CT scans.

Linda recently began having some dizzy spells and blurred vision. By some weird stroke of luck, she also had poison ivy a few weeks ago and was prescribed a steroid. While on the steroid, her dizzy spells and blurred vision cleared up. Immediately after stopping the prednisone, they returned with a vengeance. After consulting with her doctors and more testing, they determined she has stage 4 brain cancer and a spot on her spine.

She underwent brain surgery on Monday, August 19th, and doctors removed the tumor. Next, she will begin chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments. This means Linda will be out of work while kicking cancer's ass again. She has just started to financially recover from the last battle and still owes a few thousand in medical bills. Linda cannot continue to live off her remaining savings while undergoing treatments and recovery again. Since she would never ask anyone for anything, I will ask for her!

She needs our help. She needs monetary contributions for medical bills and household bills, or gift cards for groceries and gas. Linda’s daughter and grandson moved in with her last year to help care for her. With all the doctor appointments and driving back and forth, it’s extremely hard for her daughter to work full time while caring for her mother and her son. Monetary donations can be made to the go fund me campaign I’ve set up here!!

Or you can stop at the Kiski Garden Center and drop off a gas or groceries gift card. You can also make a monetary donation in person in several different ways.