Help Mrs. H's Fight for Life

“I’m not your friend, I’m your mom”

My brothers and I have heard this phrase thousands of times throughout our lives. Over the years, the truth behind that phrase has become clearer and more meaningful. My mom, Kathi Hines, has always put my brothers, my father (Paul Hanly) and I first.

We grew up knowing we were loved, safe, and never alone in any situation- good or bad. Mom has always made our health, happiness, and future her top priority.

Mom is so much more than a friend; she is our world.

My parents have lived in Mokena, Illinois for over twenty years where they have raised myself and my two brothers. Mom worked as a school bus driver for the last 8 years at Lincoln-Way Transportation in the Frankfort 157 school district. I know her kindness and compassion has been very appreciated by the children she has driven as well as their families. I am certain there were a lot of disappointed families this year when Mrs. H. didn’t return to their bus stops. I know mom was heartbroken when it became apparent she would not be able to return to work during this health struggle.

In August of 2023, our world took a drastic turn.

Mom went to the emergency room after developing pains in her abdomen. After the initial discovery of several large tumors, mom underwent laparoscopies and additional testing to uncover what we were up against.

Initial testing was inconclusive, however doctors believed that she had ovarian cancer.

Mom started a chemotherapy regime designed for ovarian cancer. Unfortunately, the tumors were extremely aggressive, and the pain became overwhelming.

In October of 2023, Mom was hospitalized due to severe pain as well as additional medical complications.

During her hospitalization at the University of Chicago- Hyde Park, the medical team advised she would need immediate surgery to remove as much of the cancer within her abdomen as possible. That surgery lasted just over 8 hours and was extremely successful thanks to an amazing surgical oncologist and team. After almost a month of recovery from this surgery, Mom was finally discharged.

After having additional testing on the masses that were removed, we were told the diagnosis was “Stage 4 metastatic adenocarcinoma of unknown primary suggestive of GI origin”. In simpler terms, the cancer had become so advanced it was not possible to tell where it originated, making it difficult to create a treatment plan.

With this new diagnosis we were told we had one to two years before the cancer would completely take over, taking her life.

We did not accept that.

Instead, we searched for a second opinion in order to understand our options. During this search we found an incredible team of experienced oncologists at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas that gave us hope.

Our team at MD Anderson made it their goal to get our mom disease free.

We began an aggressive regime of chemotherapy every other week to combat this disease. Thankfully, we were able to keep our incredible team of oncologists at the University of Chicago to handle moms care on a weekly basis.

At the time of writing this, we have made multiple trips to MD Anderson in Texas with an upcoming trip for additional testing.

Mom has recently undergone another exploratory laparoscopy to determine the progression of the disease. Currently, her doctors have withdrawn her from chemotherapy for a short period of time to let her body gain strength and to address the side effects of chemotherapy. Mom will be returning to Texas in July for further testing and to develop the best treatment plan moving forward.

The goal is for Mom to have secondary surgery to remove any remaining cancer and ideally, leave her disease free.

My parents have been doing everything possible to survive this both physically and financially. Unfortunately, the cost of illness along with the cost of travel for the level of care we need is overwhelming. The future costs of medical treatment and travel for this care are an added stress at a time that Mom needs to solely focus on fighting this horrible disease.

We are reaching out to friends, family, and anyone that may be able to help. Any donation would make a world of difference. If a donation is not possible, simply sharing our story would help so much in our attempt to reach our goal.

All donations made will be used to cover the cost of all future medical treatments, travel expenses for medical care, and other debts incurred from this fight.

We want to thank you in advance for any help. Mom has been fighting extremely hard to experience every moment as a mother and hopefully, one day as a grandmother.

My brothers, our dad, and I need more time with our mom.

Thank you for joining us in this fight. I will continue to post updates throughout this battle.