Jane kick life’s butt

Hi everyone. My name is Elyse and I’m here to talk about an amazing woman who’s been hit with so much in the last few years. The start of 2020 was the beginning of so much hardship. Jane Zanni is the strongest, most amazing woman, and the best mother a girl could ask for. In January of 2020 I went through one of the most difficult losses of my life. She stood by me, supported me, made sure I continued on when I wanted to give up. This was also a difficult time for her since she experienced the loss of this special person, too. But she kept me going despite everything. Throughout the year, we had more losses, our family cat and dog passed from old age, our uncle (her brother-in-law) suffered a heart attack and lost his life unexpectedly and her cousin’s husband passed from COVID at the end of 2020. As we continued to suffer these losses, in 2021 she had contracted COVID. We lost our dog Riley while my mom was hospitalized (also due to old age) which was devastating that she couldn’t be there for him. A week in the hospital and she ended up in ICU fighting for her life on a ventilator. After 25 stressful days she became liberated from the ventilator and was breathing on her own. The battle didn’t stop there. Every day was nerve wracking, she had lost all ability of her arms and legs due to the prolonged sedation in ICU. About two weeks later, she was finally able to be released to an acute care rehab where they could properly help her learn to use her arms and legs again. Three more weeks in rehab and she was finally able to come home. We had everything prepared, she had all the support she could need right at home. If she needed something, I made sure she had it to help get her better. The very first day home, with my brother’s help, she was able to feed herself; something she couldn’t do on her own at rehab.

The time at home proved to be helpful. But then she had another bump in the road. She was having heart pauses due to a parathyroid disease that was worsened from having COVID. This hospital visit was yet again touch and go. She ended up with a pacemaker and a new lifetime best friend and was home about a week later with a plan for surgery to remove the parathyroid. Without her having COVID, she could have lost her life without any of us noticing the symptoms. The only good thing that came out of COVID was that it possibly saved her life in the long run.

Her progress improved from there, there was light at the end of the tunnel. The surgery was scheduled for December and she worked so hard to be standing and starting to walk. She surpassed every one of her goals since she was discharged home in May. Surgery day came and it was postponed, but only by a few weeks and we took that as a sign. The new date was January 3rd. Start off 2022 the right way, on a positive note, one would think.

We couldn’t be more wrong. While my mom got stronger and surpassed each goal one after one, we went through another devastating loss. My oldest brother, Chris, passed away unexpectedly. May 13, 2022. Another day burned into our heads. A loss that left a huge hole in all of our hearts. While my brother passed away at home from complications of Graves’ disease, his autopsy was not done by the state, so we had to pay the expense for a private autopsy to find out what had happened, and funeral expenses, of course, had taken a financial hit.

Time continues to pass, and now, almost 6 months after losing Chris, my mom had a biopsy done on her breast. It came back positive for cancer. Another devastating hit. She will need surgery to remove the tumor, and possibly treatment to follow. We are going through the motions of appointments, opinions for approach of all this.

Through all this my mom has been my rock. She is the reason I fight, she’s the strongest woman I know. We both are trying so hard to keep it all together with everything we are going through. But, to be perfectly honest, it’s becoming harder with each hit we take. During this time of finding out the diagnosis we have been trying to refinance her home for legal reasons.

we both hate asking for help, but things are so financially overwhelming at this time. There’s medical expenses, bills and the house to worry about. From what we had found out after my mom had COVID, there is absolutely no relief to assist those who’ve gone through it. COVID didn’t just go away for us. There have been countless challenges following my mom’s battle and now another surgery to worry about. We need a break. And neither of us are winning the lottery anytime soon. Any little bit will help.