Hi, my name is Bonnie Ruffin and with love I am creating a fundraiser for a very special family vacation for Marlina Batts and her young family. I know Marlina as she cheered with Hillary at Hunt High School in Wilson, NC. We are also long time friends with her mother in law Aimee. Marlina tells her story the best so I’m copying her story from her Facebook. Marlina has expressed her wish to take her children to Animal Kingdom at Disney for a day and then to visit Sarasota, Florida where the young family planned to move before they learned of her cancer.

We need two big things right now. We need the use of a conversion van they can use to travel to Florida. Marlina isn’t able to sit so she needs to be able to lay down. Secondly, we need a place for them to stay in Sarasota, Florida. They have a place to stay in Kissimmee near Disney. Anything raised will go towards these items, Animal Kingdom tickets, gas, meals, etc. Anything above what’s needed for them to have a vacation together will be donated to the family for medical bills or other needs as they arise. The trip is planned for April 20th. 

Marlina. We love you and are praying for you and your family.

Written by Marlina:

February is Bile Duct Cancer Awareness month. Here’s my story of how I found out I have stage 4 Cholangiocarcinoma. Also known as Bile Duct Cancer.

I had Aubrey on 8/8/22. I was induced on 8/7/22 and was 40 weeks + 3 days. Everything was fine overall. Her HR kept dropping in certain positions but we found out at delivery that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her 3 times. No NICU stay; she was healthy as a clam.

I started to feel some back pain a few days after but assumed it was from the epidural and child birth. The pain got progressively worse. At my postpartum visit, I brought up the symptoms and she said it’s probably my pelvic floor and she will send out a referral. Well when they called the earliest appt they had was 6 weeks away so I had to wait. The pain got worse every day. I was breastfeeding and assumed maybe this is all part of postpartum. I didn’t notice I would’ve lost sleep bc I was losing sleep from having a newborn anyway. Sweating through my sleep was normal bc all of the hormone changes, but I would’ve probably been sweating from my liver cancer too. I tried all homeopathic remedies and nothing was cutting it, but I couldn’t show it because I didn’t have time. I’m a mom. A mom of 3 under 3 with no help around.

3 months went by and I was finally giving up. I’d gone to the chiropractor all throughout my pregnancy and postpartum. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was eager to get to the chiropractor for some relief, but when I got there that’s far from what I got. I loved my chiropractor. He was great, but after my adjustment I fell apart and was in even more pain. I walked as fast as I could to the bathroom and threw up and was pitiful on the floor. I crawled out of the bathroom and laid on the floor of the office in tears. Luckily I was the last patient. I laid in their recliner in fetal position as they watched my kids. I called auston and I told him he had to come pick me up bc I couldn’t drive home. He came to pick us all up and I was still in the same position. Immediately after I called my mom to come right then.

That was on a Thursday and the following Monday I had an OB appointment to check things out and demand a scan. My blood pressure was extremely high so she told us to go to the ER so we would get an immediate result rather than booking another appt weeks out. She sent the notes over to the ER and we didn’t wait long at all to be seen. My blood pressure was still high when we got there so they admitted us into a room. Before the Dr could see me I was already sent back to do a CT with no contrast. When I got back the Dr introduced herself to me and said based on my demeanor probably just pelvic floor issues. Auston always says I downplay things anyway. Well as we wait for the results from the Dr, I’m already getting them on my MyChart so I had an inkling it wasn’t good news. But when the Dr came in, the look on her face said it all.

She came in and sat down on the bed with me and held my hand and told me the scan lit up like a Christmas tree. That it’s all in my liver and my lungs and has spread into my bones. She showed us the scan and was shocked I was doing as much as I had been because I should’ve been expressing excruciating pain. There was some hope it could’ve just been an infection but it was pretty much said for it wasnt. On Thanksgiving day we got the official confirmation that it is cancer and an aggressive one at that. That’s when I felt like my whole life switched upside down.