OUR DEAR RESCUE FRIEND, PAT, NEEDS OUR HELP

For nearly two years, Pat has been fighting a battle she never should have had to fight alone. What doctors first insisted was appendix cancer turned out to be lung cancer—discovered far too late. Before anyone took her seriously, Pat had been losing dangerous amounts of weight and could barely eat. She begged for a chest X-ray, but her primary doctor brushed her off, and insurance denied it. Months were wasted.

By the time she finally saw the right surgeon, Pat had already endured unimaginable pain. They removed her appendix, most of her colon, part of her intestines, and a section of her liver. When her wonderful surgeon, Dr. Berry, took her case, he finally ordered the chest X-ray she had been pleading for, they saw the spot in her lung that doctors later confirmed was cancer that had spread.

She was told she was briefly in remission—but today, Pat is facing several new nodules in her lung. The largest has shrunk, and she’s now on a strict regimen of medication morning and night. She coughs less, and the doctors are hopeful. But the road ahead is long, exhausting, and uncertain. She has been taken off her Keytruda chemo and put on pills. Life expectancy for these pills could be about a year.

Because so much of her colon was removed, Pat has been living with an ostomy bag. Though doctors say it could be reversed, she refuses to risk the cancer spreading by going back into surgery. And truthfully, stopping chemo or these pills long enough to heal never made sense anyway.

This hasn’t just been a medical crisis for Pat—it has been a nightmare she wakes up to every single day.

And through it all, she has remained the same selfless, helpful person she has always been.

Pat has spent most of her life rescuing and caring for animals—especially injured waterfowl. Even while sick, she still helps give meds to animals, still washes the dishes at the rescue every day, still pushes herself to keep going in real estate. Although, she wonders why this is all happening to her, she keeps pushing on. People tell her to stay positive. Do you have any idea how hard it is to stay positive, when you are in pain and can hardly eat, but you know you have to? Pat does, but she keeps pushing through and keeps doing what she can to help our birds and animals.

What she worries about most is not herself—but the five rescue cats who depend on her. She lives with the constant uncertainty of what will happen to them if she’s not here. We reassure her over and over that they will always be safe, but she carries that weight every day.

Pat is the kind of person who would give you the shirt off her back, even when she has nothing left to give. She does not deserve the suffering she’s endured, nor the financial strain that has only made everything so much harder.

She needs help. She deserves help.

If you can spare anything—truly anything—it will make a difference. It will help ease the burden that has been crushing her for far too long. And it will show her that people still have some kindness in this crazy world, the kindness she has spent her whole life giving to others.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.