Support Michelle's Fight Against Cancer

Hi meet the awesome and wonderful Michelle Ippolito she has been a nurse for almost 19 years. 9 years as an LVN in Florida and almost 11 years as an RN in Florida; but unfortunately in August of 2021; she lost her husband to Covid 19 in the short span of 2 weeks. It was truly devastating. He was only 54 when he died. They have one little girl together who was 9 when he died and she has two other children who were 11 and 16 at the time. It was too painful for them to stay in Florida after he passed so they moved

to San Antonio, Tx in 2022 to be closer to her Dad. Unfortunately, he Dad passed away in July of 2023 and was alone raising her 3 children as a widow in a new state. She has always been a survivor and has worked her entire life.

Shes worked 3 jobs to try and support her kids; as her late husband didn’t have life insurance and got into a lot of debt.

Sadly, on December 24, 2024 she went in for a routine mammogram and was told she needed a diagnostic mammogram stat and a biopsy. On Jan 13,2025 she was diagnosed with Stage IIIB T4 metastatic breast cancer. She was told by the oncologist has to stop working due to the

aggressive nature of the tumors and do heavy chemotherapy for 6 months with a double mastectomy after and then radiation before she can do reconstructive surgery. She doesn’t have benefits from her job since she is per diem and her SSDI hopefully will be reinstated but the cost of just the testing has already put her into debt. Her medicare is in a suspended state currently.

We don’t realize how broken our healthcare system is until you became a cancer pt. She worked in Hospice for 5 years and it was

an honor truly. She wanted to continue to work through chemo ;but won’t be able to according to her oncologist and she doesn’t know when her SSDI will start. In her words “I feel so lost right now. I am a fighter and I have a great faith in God and the power of healing and prayer. I lie awake at night wondering how I will be able to afford my treatments along with supporting my kids.

I do believe in the power of prayer and I will take any and all prayers and healing I can get.”

She is wonderful nurse and amazing friend if that wasn’t already apparent, so please help ease her life a bit with any donation that can be given.

Thank you from

Stephanie DuBois Arnold

Coworker and friend

And

Vanessa Ramirez

Patient and friend