Help Marina's Unexpected Journey

Hi, we are Erin, Kate & Meghan and we are raising funds for Marina and her family as she navigates fighting stage 3 colorectal cancer during an extremely logistically challenging time.

When Marina learned she had a cancerous tumor in her colon, she had surgery two days later to have it removed. She was living in Tunisia and could not speak the language enough to effectively communicate with her medical team, and the doctors there were wonderful and took great care of her. Her local friends showed up in full force helping her and her family and even translating at the hospital. She has been planning to transition to a new job in the fall, so she thought she would stay in Tunisia until late June, then head back home with family in NH for some weeks over the summer before relocating to NJ for her new position in the fall.

However, plans quickly changed when she reached out to the care team in NJ about how to transition to them for her chemo treatments, and they said she needed to come to the US right now and start treatment here. So in a whirlwind few days in late May she packed up as much of her life as she could and flew to the states, leaving her family back in Tunisia to finish school and packing up their home.

There is never an optimal time for a cancer diagnosis, but Marina and Doug have been navigating additional logistical challenges due to their circumstances. Marina is ending one job and starting a new one with a break of no employment in between, which means transitions between countries and insurance policies and income sources. It has been extremely difficult and costly to ensure Marina is fully insured and that her care is transitioned from abroad to here, all while having to be separated from her husband and children and maintain two households. This has resulted in many financial challenges they would otherwise not be facing if they were in one location with continuity of jobs and insurance.

Marina is so loved and supported, she has places to stay and family and friends willing to help, but even with all of this there are a lot of unexpected costs for these logistical reasons. Many people have reached out to us asking how to help and so we decided to put this together for those who would like to help out financially. As always, hugs and love and positive wishes sent her way are always welcome! Marina and Doug are committed to only accepting what they need and will donate or pay forward any surplus.

Thanks so much, everyone! We cannot express our gratitude enough as you love and support Marina through the fight.