Karen Needs Us: Facing Stage 2b Cancer

Hi, I'm Dawn and this GoFundMe is about my best friend Karen. We need your help as she begins her journey to fight lung cancer.

I'll never forget the phone call from Karen saying they had found a nodule in her lung and wanted to do a biopsy. We kept positive and didn't tell a soul until we knew for sure. Her first biopsy came back inconclusive, so she had to go back to the operating table to get more tissue. These procedures are painful, and each time she would have to use sick time for recovery. Karen has been a bus driver for 30 years, and that means turning a steering wheel with a sore chest is going to be impossible and not safe for her precious cargo.

A little more about my beautiful friend and why this GoFundMe is so important. She has spent her whole life taking care of people. She's a mom to a beautiful daughter, 21, a handsome son, 32, and an adorable grandbaby, 2. She has always put their needs ahead of her own. Now she needs all of us.

The biopsy came back non-small cell lung cancer stage 0 to 1. We were beyond happy; this means she had the "temu" of cancer, and they would remove the nodule surgically, and it would be gone... easy peasy.

Nothing's ever easy when it comes to cancer. Period. Because of the position of the tumor, they would have to remove a lobe of her lung, which meant a more intense recovery and more sick days.

About a week after her lobe removal, we received the results on a Sunday night of the tissue biopsy. I was on the phone when her doctor called. I knew it wasn't good if they were calling on a Sunday.

Karen came back to the phone silent and finally said, it was a lymph node, and lung cancer doesn't start there...

We were devastated. She now has stage 2b and has to start chemo and possibly radiation. And they still don't know where the cancer originates from.

She is out of sick time, cannot drive a bus in her condition, and her medical bills, medicine costs, and personal bills are getting behind, and she hasn't even started the biggest battle of her life.

That's why we need you. Any amount will help her be able to focus on beating this, and if you can't donate, please share her story.

It takes a village... and it's time we ask for help.

Remember, anything helps to keep her lights on or her car insured. I just want to give her the peace of mind she deserves.

Love you, Karen!!!