My name is Antonina and I am fundraisung for my mother's rehabilitation treatment.

Dear friends,

With hope to save our wonderful, loving mother, grandmother, and wife, we ask for your help.

My parents came to Canada shortly after the death of my husband to provide emotional support not just to me, but to my two children while we struggled with hard times and grief. Just as we thought our lives were going back to normal, another tragedy struck our already small and fragile family. My mother was hospitalized within the first week of being reunited with us here. Since she does not have a Medical Service Plan (insurance) in Canada, and her Travel Medical Insurance does not cover her expenses, we were informed of our obligation to pay all her bills ourselves. Her condition is unfortunately not certified to be paid by the insurance companies as well, since her current state is fully related to her chronic disease.

For the past four long and difficult years, my strong mother has been battling cancer. She had a very long and positive remission, yet her oncology problems ended up triggering her current health issues. When she got sick, it was a complete shock to all of us, considering her last medical examination prior to coming to Canada did not show any reasons for concern, and most definitely did not warn us of what was about to happen.

We are doing everything we can in order to make her last several months with us as comfortable and pain-free as possible. She is currently a patient at the Vancouver General Hospital under supervision by the amazing and loving staff there. Her condition is very critical, but under their care, she is stable.

For people without insurance, these hospital stays are extremely expensive and financially draining. Just one day in the hospital costs $3950—and that doesn’t include all the tests and additional examinations such as MRI s, CT scans, etc.

The first three days of my mother’s stay already cost us $13654, and it’s been only seven days since she became a patient. Her doctors told us she may need to stay under their care for as long as another two weeks. In addition to that, she will need special health services once she is discharged home for rehabilitation.

I am absolutely terrified and scared that I will not be able to help my mom. My heart was already shattered once earlier this year, after I lost the love of my life and the father to my two children. We are not ready to lose another beautiful soul from our family so soon and sudden.

This is why we are asking for your help.

We currently need $50,000+ that will go towards paying medical bills and getting special needs services for my mother, when she’s back home with us.

My family and I are greatly appreciative of any financial help and donations.

If you are not able to donate, we ask that you please share this post with your friends, family, or colleagues and spread the word about our situation.

Thank you.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Dear friends! 

My family and I would like to thank all of you for your kind words and financial help. We were able to get over $11,000 here and we are extremely grateful to everybody who is involved in our situation. 

Updates: 

Tamara is still in the hospital, despite the fact that we had high hopes that by now she would be able to reunite with us. 
Her current problem is the fact that her oncology triggered complications in her liver. Her liver collects fluids that no longer leave her body therefore causing pain, infection and liver damage. The main goal that doctors have is to get rid of the fluids from her body. For that particular reason they performed another medical operation. Doctors implanted a  tube that would help with draining the fluids out of her system, in order to ensure that she will not be in pain. She is also under medical treatment for her newly created infection and pain relief medications.

In addition, a malfunction of the liver leads to the fact that the liver does not produce the protein involved in the removal of water from the body. The water and fluids that can’t be drained cause swolleness and gain of weight. In the last 2 weeks Tamara gained 17.6 lbs of unwanted fluids. Doctors are mainly focused on resolving that issue.  

She is currently very weak and it is impossible for her to walk, get up or go to the bathroom without supervision or help. 
For the last couple of days she was doing very well. She was able to get out of her bed and eat by herself, while sitting down. It was a miracle to see her smiling again. However, on Friday she had another medical operation that was supposed to help with her condition.

On July 22nd 2021 doctors implanted another tube that would help with draining  the fluids. The operation went good, however Tamara did not take it well. After the operation she was in extreme pain and worried all of the medical staff, as that procedure was supposed to help her not harm her. Currently she feels a little better , but needs to stay in the hospital for longer in order to make sure her pain will not be back. 

Her prognosis is uncertain, yet doctors told us that Tamara does not have much time left. They informed us about different ways we can greet her with comfort and peace when she will get released from the hospital. 

As for now she is fighting like a superhero. She says thank you to everybody who helps us in our situation. 

Here I have attached some receipts and medical bills that we currently needed to pay for. They do not include an MRI that she had on July 20th, 2021, as well as the new CT scan on July 22nd, 2021 and an operation that happened on July 22nd, 2021 as well. 

We were able to partly pay for our expenses. There is more to come as we are still uncertain when she will be able to come back to us and what would be our actions in the future. 


There are also several pictures of her in the hospital!