Support for Barb Svenson’s cancer treatment

Hello friends, family, and whoever this might find,

This is very hard, and uncomfortable for me to even type and post. I wish I didn’t have to say anything, and wish we didn’t have to ask for help, and honestly wish none of this was happening. I also want to preface this by saying there is very little expectation from this- no pressure and no guilt, it is just one thing I can think of to help during this extremely painful and confusing time for our family. Anything given is not necessary, is absolutely above and beyond, and no amount of gratitude would be enough to show.

Long story short: Our mom, Barb Svenson, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and treatment, hospital bills, and any other potential options cost a lot of money- and her insurance doesn’t cover a lot of it. She is about 4 months away from being eligible for social security and Medicare, but even then coverage for cancer treatments is spotty. We are trying to get her any kind of opinions, options, and treatment as quickly as we can since it is basically a race against the clock with how quickly this cancer moves.

She went to the hospital a little over a month ago because she wasn’t feeling great. After dealing with the doctors and multiple incorrect diagnoses, wasted time, and being pushed to do more tests, finally they came back and said it was pancreatic cancer. Initial shock. We all said: Ok- Let’s see what the options are. We know there is a clock now, which is hard enough to imagine, but we are hoping for the best.

Next, we find out that it’s too advanced. Surgery is not an option. They want to try chemo. This is not great news, but we are still hoping for the best that we can.

A week later, the doctors tell us that it is already established in the liver, and her liver functions are not great- so now chemo is not even an option.

At this point our options are severely limited. The absolute speed of this is mind boggling, even for cancer. Going from a month ago with everything being fine, to now looking at this situation, is utterly impossible to wrap our brains around it and how quickly life has taken a turn. It’s not fair. If you don’t already know, you can look up pancreatic cancer to read more, but the odds are not great. We are really holding onto every hope we can though and trying to stay strong.

We are having a second opinion from another hospital, and would like to look at a third, but again- they are out of network and cost would be out of pocket if we wanted to go that route.

There are already hospital bills that are on the way, and there will be more. All us kids are going to help with as much as we can, but I’m not sure what all of this is going to cost. We don’t want to imagine the eventual outcome just yet- we want to hold on and give her the best chance she can get.

My dad has obviously dropped work to take care of her full-time. She is doing well for now, all things considered, but her mobility is limited, and he is doing everything he can for her. Her spirits are good and we are all trying to give her as much support as we can. We just don’t know what’s next. There isn’t a way out of this, but we hope there is a way to have a little more control, maybe have some good luck show up for once during this whole ordeal.

Like most people this is not something I ever thought we would need to do, but it is kind of a shame that these situations cost so much money and can cause much more financial stress on top of the pain we already feel. As I said before, I don’t know how much any of this will cost, and I hate asking for things, but any little bit will help.

Our family would appreciate ANY contribution, whether it’s financial, emotional, words of encouragement, any support for Barb, etc. We need everything we can get right now. Our family truly appreciates it. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this.