Julie Really Wants to Live

Julie Burke Really Wants to Live

I am Christina and my mom, Julie Burke, needs help to survive her cancer. My mother always knew she wanted to be a mom. She was a good student at UC Berkeley who became an A+ mother to my brother and I – but also to dozens and dozens of special needs kids who became her extended family, along with their families. She worked at a preschool supporting autistic children and other neuro-atypical kids who bonded with her when very few people could; kids who, years later, rush to give her massive hugs when she meets them at the grocery store.

My mom did this work for 20 years in the Conejo Valley School District and since 2007 at the innovative Buttercup Pre-School in Agoura Hills, Ca., until she got a bad cancer diagnosis in 2017. She learned she had neuroendocrine cancer that required removal of her pancreas, spleen, gallbladder, and half of her stomach. That was just the beginning. Chemo, radiation, PRRT. She developed a systemic infection that nearly killed her. Covid didn’t help. When she was rushed to the hospital, there were no beds available. Her husband, Rich, did everything possible, including tube-feeding Julie, to bring her home, keep her safe, let her heal. Covid didn’t allow us to hug her when she really needed hugs.

Through it all, my mom has stayed positive and grateful. She is now insulin-dependent and has struggled to maintain her weight at under 90 pounds. She looks like a strong wind would carry her away, but Julie Burke is all steel. Maybe titanium. It sounds like a cliché, but it is Julie’s intense faith and love for her family that have sustained her through struggles most of us can’t appreciate.

Despite her doctors’ best efforts, my mom developed more and larger tumors. Standard treatments no longer offered much hope. So, Rich did the research and found an effective treatment available in Europe that is not yet offered in the US. It will be someday, but Julie can’t wait. So they went overseas for this cutting-edge therapy, at great expense – and it worked. Tests show major improvements in her cancer burden. But she will need more treatments, and soon.

Unless you have been on a journey like this, you can’t picture the expenses involved, even with insurance. They couldn’t risk losing power (meds must be kept cool), so Rich invested in a generator. They couldn’t risk Covid in the house, so they got a UV air filtration system. The travel and overseas treatments have already cost $46K and it’s time to go back. We are asking for help to make that possible.

Julie is the granddaughter of immigrants. Perseverance and determination live in her DNA. Many people would have given up, but she is still fighting, still smiling, still praying. Julie really wants to live, and we really need her. If you can help us give her the chance she deserves, you will be blessing someone who has blessed so many others.

We can remove some of the financial stress so Julie can focus her energy on recovery. Please help us help her. Thank you so much for whatever you can do.

Current and Anticipated 2022 Costs:

$15,000 expense per treatment (x4): $60,000

$8,000 travel expense per trip (x4): $32,000

Total costs: $92,000

Fundraising Goal: $30,000