Hi, my name is Heather Oakley and I am creating this fundraiser for my good friend Julie Falk who has been living with us for the better part of this year. Julie has been dealing with a Chordoma in the base of her skull since March. She completed a grueling 15 hour surgery at Johns Hopkins in June to remove the tumor. After recovering from surgery she then embarked on Radiation Treatment for another 7 weeks, lasting through the end of October. She is currently recovering from significant side effects from the radiation treatment, however, she has been under the care of some of the best doctors in the world for this particular tumor and they are confident they have defeated it and she is finally starting to feel a little better!

Unfortunately, since June, Julie has not been able to work at her job as a School Counselor in Georgia, except for a couple of weeks between recovering from surgery and starting radiation therapy. She had to temporarily relocate to Maryland to be near her doctors and care team for the last almost 6 months. Julie is a single Mom to two amazing boys, who have also needed to temporarily relocate with her to Maryland while she completed her treatment. Unfortunately, Julie's brother passed away in May 2020 and her beloved Mother passed away in October 2020. During her brother and Mother's illnesses, she served as a significant part of their care teams and had to take a significant time off of work. Just as she returned to work from FMLA after settling her Mother's affairs, her boys came down with COVID and she was out for another month nursing them back to health. As a result of these major life disruptions she had used her FMLA and all of her paid time off just before being diagnosed herself. She has been flying to Maryland and back for doctor's appointments since spring and will continue to have to come here for follow-up tests and appointments for the next several years. Her medical bills from her procedures are mounting and without an income since the summer, she has used all of her hard earned savings to maintain basic life functions for herself and her boys. We want nothing more than for Julie to return home with her boys in a peaceful, healing place, but she has a lot of bills to catch up on and is looking at a stressful return to work shortly as a busy Elementary School Counselor and jumping back into life with two busy boys. We would love to at least be able to provide her with some funds to help ease her significant burden and bring some peace and calm back to her life, finally!

Julie is an amazing person, she has handled so many incredibly challenging situations in the last few years with grace. She has remained an incredible Mom and Daughter and a great friend through it all, always remaining supportive of others, kind, faithful and positive. Julie is inspiring and it's our turn to help lift her and her boys up. Please help with whatever you feel comfortable. All funds will go to Julie to be used for catching up on bills, paying for life's expenses as a single Mom with two active boys and hopefully setting aside a little something to help her feel the love and peace so that she can heal fully and move on from this catastrophic time in her life! We thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity!