Struggling to pay medical bills

 

I am the oldest of four children. My mother raised us kids by herself as a single parent with no child support. She gave us everything she could provide within her means and we had a great upbringing and childhood! She also has six grandchildren whom she loves very much and would spend most of her time with! She met my stepfather and married in June 1999. He has been a huge part of our lives as well and has loved and supported my mother through everything... 

 

In the Fall of 2012, my mother was diagnosed with stage 3 Lung Cancer. Our family was devistated, but determined to help my mother beat it. She went through  having surgery to remove 75% of her right lung, chemo & radiation (and in between had even had galbladder surgery, aside from the Cancer). She was then diagnosed as being in remission in June of 2013. It felt like for a while we had her back...We were so happy! 

 

In March of 2014, our family found out that her Cancer had returned and she had tried a different approach to fight it in the form of a pill (as opposed to chemo). This did not help and her Cancer had spread rapidly throughout her body (even though it had not spread in her lungs).  Around Sept 2014, she was diagnosed as having stage 4/terminal Cancer. She was told she would never be Cancer free, as it had spread throughout too much of her body. She was told she would have to complete chemo treatments every 3 weeks to pretty much stay alive. At the end of Oct 2014, she had come down with a horrible case of pneumonia. She had continued to fight for months in/out of the hospital due to this illness and was unable to complete her chemo... We could see her health and motor skills slowly declining.

 

About a week and a half ago, our family learned that she had Cancer in her spinal fluid. A few days after we learned this, she stopped eating and refusing her oral medication...she just wanted to sleep. After being evaluated shortly after that, it was her doctor's opinion to relocate her to hospice care. She is currently in hospice care and we are trying to spend as much time with her as possible and to make sure she is comfortable before she passes. 

 

This has been so hard on our family, especially my stepfather. We are now faced with the decisions of funeral options, as well as expenses. These, unfortunately, will need to be paid out of pocket by my stepfather, myself and siblings. My mother did not have life insurance. I am not sure what will happen in terms of her medical expenses, however, due to her current situation, our family is solely focused on how we are going to pay for her funeral to give her a proper memorial and creamation.

Anything anyone can do to support this cause, from the bottom of our family's heart, is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading my story and for your kindness... God bless.

UPDATE to my previous story.  As many of you know, my mother passed on February 3rd. We raised enough money from that to afford  her funeral expenses and the service could not have been more beautiful and the out pouring of support was truly amazing! This is why I am attempting to help raise money for my stepfather to pay his insurance deductable from my mother's medical expenses when she was still living. He does have good insurance, but is now struggling to pay for the deductibless from the last couple years. Anything anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated! The loss of his wife has been so much for him to handle, I'm trying to help in easing the financial burden on him to make things a bit less stressful.  Anything anyone can do would be greatly appreciated and God bless!