Help My Sister Lynda Get Through Cancer Treatment

My 46-year-old sister, Lynda, was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer in the winter of 2020, called adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC). Since the beginning of her cancer journey, I've been there to witness the struggles she has had to face--from being fired from her nursing home career because she was on medical leave for "too long"....to dealing with long-haul COVID symptoms....to just recently watching her recover after having her entire eye surgically removed.

While I have watched the physical and emotional transformation my sister has had to go through, the financial transformation has been just as hard and devastating.

Ever since my sister was younger, she knew she wanted to be a nurse, and she's great at her profession. Many times she worked extra shifts due to nursing shortages, caring for her patients like they were her own family members. 

But in October 2020 , painful headaches caused her to go to the hospital, only to find out that something odd was happening behind her right eye. Later, it was discovered to be a rare cancer, which she knew was going to change her life and career.

At that same time, she contracted COVID from the nursing home where she worked, which delayed her medical treatment for the cancer due to COVID recovery and new hospital protocols.

Short-term disability was able to cover part of her income (only about 60%) but it wasn't enough. Family had to kick in the additional amount she needed to cover her basic living expenses.

Things got worse from there.

In March 2021, the nursing home where she worked fired her for being out "too long." They had very little regard for the fact that she was not only recovering from COVID that she contracted while working at their facility, but she was just about to undergo eye cancer treatment (for her treatment, she had her eye removed and a skin graph from her thigh was used to cover the void).

To make matters worse, her health insurance was terminated at the same time as her employment, at which time she had to pay outrageous COBRA fees in order to have coverage for her eye removal surgeries and recovery.

The latest blow is that she found out that she was denied long-term disability due to their decision that her eye cancer was a "pre-existing" condition before the policy took effect.

What all these devastating blows mean is that my sister, Lynda, literally has no income coming in, and she is about to start proton radiation for 6 weeks. She's paying expensive COBRA fees so that she will have coverage until she can possibly qualify for Medicaid. With COVID delays, however, we're not sure how long that will even take to process. Even with Medicaid, that doesn't account for the lack of income to pay rent, food, co-pays, and more.

Once radiation is over, we have no idea how long it will be before she can get back to her nursing career. Will she need additional physical therapy? Will she be able to drive safely to get herself to and from work? Will she be exhausted for weeks after radiation before she can look for employment? Those are the unknown questions that further impact her financial status.

We're asking you for any help that you may provide in order to bridge the gap between now and when my sister, Lynda, is able to financially get on her feet again. Every little bit helps and every cent will cover her living expenses, medical bills, and food.

Thank you so much for your help! Your support means so much to our family!

Serena