Only a few months ago, I was talking with my mom, and she nonchalantly mentioned that she was having some problems  with her hand, some numbness, and that sometimes she "dropped things". She also mentioned that she would sometimes just "lose track" of what she was saying and it took a pause for her to remember. Knowing that she was just about the last person to complain or to ask for help, I was worried, but she told me that she she had gone to the doctor. I found out from my dad a few weeks later that a "mass" had been found in her brain (she had not told me that, because she didn't want me to worry). I was reasonably upset, my dad didn't realize I didn't know yet. Supposedly it was a small "glioma"... not something that was supposed to spread rapidly. They wanted to wait three months and do a second MRI to check if it was changing. I'm very close with my mom, and we talk often.  Fast forward a few weeks, and she is having much longer "pauses" in the middle of her sentences, often losing track of what she was trying to say.  I was worried, but I also didn't want to disrespect her by treating her like a child and telling her what to do.   My mom is one of the most competent people I know, she never asks for help, to a fault, and if she needs to do something she doesn't know how to do, she learns.  And she's one of the most helpful, generous, non-judgemental and generally amazing people you'll ever meet, never expecting anything in return.  Fast forward to mid November. She was working on getting her next MRI scheduled. I was growing increasingly more worried - now she would say a few words, slower than normal, and then trail off mid sentence. I would wait patiently, and sometimes she would be able to force out the rest of the words, and other times she would get very upset and give up on what she was trying to say.  Finally, the MRI was scheduled for December 8th, and by late November,  her sentences were getting more difficult, her pauses were getting longer, her texts were getting much shorter; A lot of "ok", "yes" and "no, and she could not really carry on a conversation anymore. But I would still call, tell her stories about the boys, and finally she told me reluctantly that her arm "couldn't do much anymore"... When I pressed her to give me more details, she told me that she couldn't move it at all,  and she was dragging her right foot a little when she walked. Through all of this she was still WORKING. Yes, you heard me right. HOW, you ask? Well, I have no idea. Sheer will, I suppose. It gave her a sense of purpose and was keeping her busy.  She had taken a traveling job selling skin care products, as my dad had been paused in his religious counselling practice for a while, and was out in Edmonton getting a lot of required (VERY expensive) professional training to be able to continue practicing.  So mom wanted to work as long as possible  to keep the bills paid. When her symptoms continued worsening, dad came home early, unfinished, to take care of her.  She stopped working a week later. I decided to make an unplanned visit for the weekend with my 9 month old son, Finn, leaving my 3 year old, Adam at home with his dad. When I arrived, her symptoms were MUCH worse than I expected, as she had downplayed them every time I talked to her. Her MIND was 100% functional, she could understand everything we were saying, and she could read - but somehow writing words, typing words, texting, or talking were becoming less and less, and it was SO frustrating for her.  It was absolutely heart wrenching when I had to leave to get back to my family and my work... This was the first time she had ever cried (sobbed, actually) because I was leaving. I wish now that I had stayed and  forced her to go to the hospital right then. But the MRI was scheduled, and I thought we were already following the eight course of action. This past Thursday, December 12th (we still didn't have results from her MRI from Dec. 8th), I got a text from my sister Renee who lives in Edmonton. It said: "Something happened. Mom's in the hospital. Call me." She had lost the ability to speak completely, and her right side (the side she couldn't use previously) was twitching, having a seizure, at which point the ambulance was called and she was taken to the hospital.  I dropped everything and drove with the baby to Toronto, where she had been transferred to.  Renee booked the first flight home as well. It turned out that once the doctor read the results of mom's second MRI, the size of the brain mass had more than doubled in the past few months. They also said that the mass was not totally solid, almost liquid and spread through more than one area. Not operable.  They have put her on three different seizure meds to try to get the seizure under control before they can do a biopsy and find out what kind of tumor/cancer/infection they are dealing with. She has not opened her eyes since I've been here. She's not totally unconscious, but very drowsy from meds and unable to speak or respond much, other than she started sobbing when the baby and I arrived.  The most recent update (12/15) is that her Neurologist will be meeting on Monday to talk about her with the "Tumor Board", where there will be a meeting of a lot of very good cancer/tumor specialists, able to put their heads together on her "difficult case". By then we are hoping her seizure will be over for couple of days so that she will be strong enough to undergo treatment. To sum it up, the situation is obviously grim, but we are doing our best to stay strong for her, help her to not feel alone, trapped in a body that won't do what she wants it to, while we figure out what her options are. This has caused all three of us sisters to put our jobs on hold, plane flights, mom not working, dad still needing to finish his professional training, hotel rooms in Toronto, parking eat the hospital daily, and/or driving the 2 hours each direction to and from my parent's house. Since she's Canadian, her health care is covered, but none of the expenses above are, and with all of our lost wages, we are in a very rough situation. Us girls won't be able to pay our own bills if this goes on long, let alone help my dad keep his bills paid while he tends to mom. I've heard that it "takes a village", so I'm calling on you to please help in any way you can. My parents are two people who have literally made it their life's work to help others. Like I said before, they almost never ask for help, to a fault. We SO appreciate any and all help that you are willing to give, be it financial, visiting, sending food, providing a place to stay (for anybody with a spare room or couch in the Toronto area), helping with household chores at my dad's house (as silly as that sounds, it is needed), and the easiest way, by SHARING this campaign on your social media feeds.  The goal amount I've chosen, is enough to cover my mom and dad's bills for a few months. I'm hoping that with the number of people they have helped throughout their lives, there will be a lot of support and we might even exceed this goal.  Please share this with your village too. Any little bit helps. Thank you all SO much for your support. <3 Erin