My name is Diana; I'm the daughter of a wonderful, vibrant woman who is nearing the end of her journey in this life. My mother, Patricia Andriola, has shown incredible courage over the last three years, fighting for herself again and again as her health took one hit after another. She has now entered hospice care and we need to hire a home health aide to help care for her.

In 2020, after a prolonged flu-like illness, mom was diagnosed with liver disease and required a transplant, which she received in July 2021. Mom seemed to bounce back to health in the initial recovery period, but after about six months she has had numerous setbacks sending her for long stays at the hospital. The transplanted liver began to show signs of rejection and the medicine she took to prevent rejection damaged her kidneys so badly that she needed dialysis to survive. In July 2022, she began dialysis, putting in place another set of dominoes ready to fall.

The dialysis ravaged her body, causing her bones to become brittle. She struggled to eat and her weight plummeted to just 75 pounds. After several falls, she suffered fractures throughout her body - her spine, ribs, shoulder, and hip.

In 2023, mom has spent more time in the hospital than at home. We held her hands as she screamed in pain following her final dialysis treatments. We watched helplessly one night two weeks ago as her heart rate swung furiously from 120 to 185 bpm while we prayed she'd make it through the night. We comforted and supported her in her decision to stop the treatments that caused her so much pain and to come home for hospice.

Mom is now home, set up in her hospital bed in the living room that for years has been her place of sanctuary and peace. My sister, father, and I do our best to bring her anything she wants (she's very into cherry danish right now), spend time with her, and comfort her when the fear of end-of-life overwhelms her.

Medicare provides a hospice nurse and an aide who visit a few times per week for about an hour per day, but we have quickly realized that caring for a bed-bound loved one is a 24-hour job, and we need more help. That's why we need donations. We want to hire a home health aide to come to the house for 8-hours per day/5 days per week. At $34 per hour, we need over $5,000 for just four weeks of care.

The aide will help with repositioning mom, keeping her clean, and changing clothes and bedding. All of these tasks require multiple people to move and lift her carefully in order to limit her pain. Having an aide present will also allow the family to spend our time attending to her emotional needs while the aide can make sure her physical needs are met.

So many times I have watched her and my father summon the courage for yet one more battle and been awed by their perseverance and faith. She has bravely chosen how she wants to live and die. We hope to make the remaining time with her beautiful, surrounding her with love and gratitude for the life she has lived.