<div>Update 2/11/2026:
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<div>I’m still actively searching for a full-time role in my field. While I continue to make meaningful progress and explore opportunities, the reality is that I’m still bridging a financial gap month to month.  
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<div>Full details below in updates!<br />
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<div>Update: In Loving Memory of My Mom

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<div>It’s with a heavy heart that I share that my mom passed away on Wednesday, October 10, 2025.

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<div>After a recent hospital stay, she returned home under hospice care, surrounded by love and comfort. Even though we knew her health was fragile, nothing truly prepares you for the loss of a parent. This has hit me harder than I could ever have imagined.

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<div>My mom was my biggest fan, my best friend, my editor, and my wordsmith. Her love, encouragement, and belief in me shaped so much of who I am today. I know that in some way, her loving and guiding spirit will continue to be with me as I navigate this next phase of my life without her cheering me on every day. I will forever miss her.

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<div>While finding a full-time role remains important, I also recognize that I need time to properly grieve this loss and adjust to life without her. The donations and kind words shared here have been a lifeline — helping us through her care, easing financial stress, and giving me the space to be fully present with her in her final months.

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<div>As I move forward, I am profoundly grateful for the support, compassion, and love shown by so many of you. If you’re able, please continue to share this campaign as I work to cover final expenses and begin rebuilding in the weeks ahead.

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<div>From the bottom of my heart — thank you for standing beside us, and for helping me honor her life with the dignity, care, and love she so deeply deserved.

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<div>With love and gratitude,

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<div>Lisa

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<div>My original post:

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<div>I never thought I’d be here asking for help. I’ve been caring for my mom, who had an incurable lung disease and was not a candidate for transplant. With rising bills, lost insurance, and hospital debt, I’m fighting to keep us afloat. <strong>Every bit of support helps us breathe a little easier.</strong>

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<div>My Story:

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<div>The past couple of years have been incredibly challenging. Since 2022, I’ve faced a divorce, a hip replacement, my youngest child’s struggle with depression, anxiety, and substance abuse (thankfully now clean for 1.5 years ), and multiple moves — each costly and exhausting. Through it all, I’ve done my best to stay strong and keep moving forward.

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<div>Then, in September 2023, my mom was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease (ILD), a serious condition that scars the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe. While there’s no known cause, we suspect it may be tied to asbestos exposure during her years working at the University of Kentucky. Earlier this year, the strain of struggling to breathe led to a second diagnosis: pulmonary hypertension, a dangerous increase in blood pressure in the lungs caused by the extra stress on her heart.

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<div>We have since learned the most difficult truth: there is no cure for ILD, and my mom is not a candidate for a lung transplant. Treatment can only help manage her symptoms, not stop the disease.

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<div>In November 2024, my mom came to Massachusetts hoping for better care than the careless treatment she’d been receiving in Kentucky. It quickly became clear that Brigham &amp; Women’s Hospital could provide her with world-class care, but also that she could no longer live alone. Together, my sister, mom, and I made the hard decision for her to break her lease and leave behind the home and life she had known for 73 years to permanently move here with me.

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<div>By then, I had already made an expensive move the year before due to challenges my youngest was facing. And then, just a year later, we had to move again into a home that could meet my mom’s medical needs. While my sister closed up my mom’s home in Kentucky, I packed up mine here — another major expense. Since then, I’ve been her full-time caregiver.

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<div>Along the way in mid 2025, I also lost my job. I thought I’d be back to work by now and was close to an offer, but the economy has made some companies pause hiring and in general, the job market has been brutally tough. I’ve applied to hundreds of jobs, taken on part-time work to keep us going, and stretched unemployment benefits as far as possible — but I only have about a few weeks left before that ends.

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<div>Meanwhile, the expenses just keep piling up. Because my mom requires an oxygen compressor running 24/7, our electric bill averages about $600 a month. For insurance, I was paying $1,200 per month for COBRA, but in the chaos of moving, I lost coverage without realizing it. In May, I got sick and was hospitalized — only to discover afterward that I wasn’t insured at the time. That hospital stay left me with nearly $40,000 in bills. I’ve since gotten coverage again through the ACA (thank goodness), but it costs me $675 per month.

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<div>Between medical bills, insurance, utilities, and basic living expenses, I’ve burned through my savings and am now struggling to keep up.

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<div>This is very hard for me to post. Those who know me well know that asking for help is incredibly difficult for me. But right now, <strong>every bit of support makes a difference — whether it’s covering part of the electric bill, keeping insurance in place, or helping me start to chip away at hospital debt.</strong>

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<div>If you’re able to contribute, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you can’t, sharing this with others would mean the world to me.

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<div>❤️ Lisa

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Jessica Cudzilo

Susan DiTullio

Anonymous

Ashley Herd

Danielle Mcpherson

Jennifer Henderson

Daniel Elliott

Nitu Kumar

Amy Sullivan

Natisha Pinero

Sidney Scott

Lisa Peterson

Linda Presley

J Catto

Shannon Larsen

Support During a Season of Resilience & Transition

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Support During a Season of Resilience & Transition

Still $8,421 to go. Help us build momentum.