This is my mom Melanie, she is only 58 years old and she is the hardest working woman that I know. She goes above and beyond for anyone and everyone. For the past 9 years she has been struggling with rheumatoid arthritis in both of her knees which makes daily tasks difficult. Despite the fact that she can't walk very well she has maintained her third shift position as a sales associate because like any normal human being she has bills to pay. Believe me it is painful to see her after an 8 hour shift! Two years ago she tried to apply for disability because things where just getting to be too difficult. Unfortunately they denied her because she was still at her job, even though she was going to quit if she was approved for it. They told her she needed to be out of work for at least a year before they would even submit it for review. For as hard working as she is she felt she couldn't stop working because she needed the pay. Around that same time she developed other health issues like high blood pressure, her doctor sent her for a bunch of tests and put her on medication that she couldn't afford. Her insurance barely covered the costs of all the tests and she was knee deep in medical bills. She decided that she just didn't have the money to continue taking the medication that she needed to be on, and stopped taking them. Last month she developed pneumonia, she went to the doctor and they automatically put her on high blood pressure medications because her heart was enlarged. She used the rest of her paid time off to get better and then went back to work, only to find out a week later that the pneumonia was not gone and had gotten worse. Yesterday she was admitted to the hospital because she couldn't breathe. She insisted that she didn't want to go because she can't afford the medical bills, but she went because deep down she knew she wasn't going to get any better on her own. As of last night they removed 3 liters of fluid from her lung and they are still in the process of draining it. She may be in the hospital until Christmas, this would be her first Christmas not at home with her family. We are currently working to see if she can get short term disability through her employer, but as everyone knows that only covers a portion of your regular pay. She is worried because now she will not have the pay coming in and she will have a ton of medical bills from her hospital stay.As her daughter I am asking for help for her because I know she is too proud to ask. Anything would help greatly! We just want her to get healthy and stay healthy so she can enjoy her three grandchildren!!! We know pneumonia is curable but the rheumatoid arthritis will be with her for the rest of her life and standing on her legs for 8 hours a day 5 days a week is really taking a toll on her. She's worked all her life and she deserves to take a rest now and focus on her health.

1/4/16 - I wanted to make sure my update shows up right in the description. It turns out my mother never had pneumonia, she has stage 4 ovarian cancer. We have moved her care and she is in good hand now. Its going to be a long fight but she will get through this. The doctors are confident that she will be in remission for many years to come. Her treatment starts today.