Update 2/11/2026:

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.  

Full details below in updates!

Update: In Loving Memory of My Mom

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With love and gratitude,

Lisa

My original post:

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. Every bit of support helps us breathe a little easier.

My Story:

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.

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.

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.

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 & 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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, 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.

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.

❤️ Lisa