Every person has to overcome obstacles, some big and some small, in their lives to bring them to where they are today. It makes you who you are. Every experience impacts our lives in one way or another. For our family, this journey began in January of 2009. Our mother, Jody Winsick-Soluri, who was always a hard worker and would do anything to take care of her family, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Philadelphia Chromosome positive. This had a huge effect on every member of our family. We were told that my mother had only 24 hours to live in 2009 and had a very low chance of surviving this battle. Her organs were failing, and we needed to find a bone marrow donor. It was an emotional roller coaster for all of us. My mom felt like she was letting us down, and we felt as if we could not do anything else but watch. There was a change of events when my mom found a donor. She seemed to be doing better after the numerous chemotherapy treatments and bone marrow transplant from her older brother. She slowly but surely seemed to be improving. Things started getting back to normal when she was able to get back onto her feet.

Two years later, in 2011, my mom went in for a routine check-up doctor’s appointment and her bloods were slightly low. She was worried but the doctor said she had nothing to worry about, that it was completely normal. Two days later, she was rushed back into the hospital. The Leukemia was back, and she never had the chance to make it fully through recovery. The only option left was to hope that we could find a donor for a stem cell transplant. Our mom’s brother came around just to help her and donated stem cells. Since 2011, my mother has been in remission.

However, there has now been a recent turn of events. Since January 4th, our mom has been extremely sick with severe stomach problems. For over a week, she refused to let herself to go the hospital because of financial reasons... She was tired of "bankrupting our family." On January 14th, we had no other option. Our mom was rushed to the hospital because the pain got unbearable. It turns out that she was diagnosed with a serious colon infection called C. Diff Colitis. In short, all of the good bacteria in her colon was killed by antibiotics and the C. Diff Colitis took over. For two weeks now, our mom has been in and out of surgeries and passed between different hospital rooms. She underwent a stool transplant which failed and in turn, pushed the infection into her blood. On Friday, January 27th, she was given 24 hours to live once again. If we did not rush her in for a life-saving surgery to remove her colon, it would perforate and she would not have made it. Since then, she has been kept in the hospital to recover. Her team of five plus doctors tells us that the recovery will take a while, and we have a long road ahead of us. The next step is entering her into a rehab to learn how to eat and move on her own again.

The benefit of these traumatic life experiences is that our family has learned how strong we are and how much we need and can rely on each other. I have never felt closer to my family and have learned that no matter what, with a little faith we can make it through anything. We have done everything that we can to not give up on her, and she has been forever fighting her hardest to stay alive for us. That is what family is for.

My family already has medical bills piled up of over $80k just from cancer and her treatments. This latest medical setback is going to put us well into six figures of medical debt. We are humbly asking for prayers as well as anything else that can help. We greatly appreciate the support that we have already received from friends and family members.