I, Derek Beattie, am setting up this campaign for Lora Lewis, Cepheid Lodi QIP Supervisor who previously reported to me at the site. This campaign is being set up so we can help Lora with her growing medical and personal bills during this time while she is off work and going through treatment. All funds raised will go directly to Lora and she is the only person who will have access to withdraw from this campaign.

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Lora Lewis was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and has been undergoing treatment since last December. During that time Lora has been unable to work, trying to manage things on her own and the bills have started adding up. To help her out the Lodi Team wanted to set up this site to offer some financial and emotional support.

The goal is only set at $1 so please just give what you can and know that every dollar goes directly to Lora. As you can imagine, this is a very difficult and urgent matter so anything you can give along with your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.

Below is a message from Lora to share some of the feelings and emotions she is experiencing with all of you. Please read it and continue to reach out to her with your love and support. Thank you and spread the word!

Lora's message:

Love and hope…how powerful those gestures are!  Unfortunately, I must admit to you, I have taken those gifts for granted at times.  I suspect many of us have.  We do it so innocently and unintentionally.  Let me explain it like this:  I love chicken nachos, and I love my family; I hope our weather is good, and I have a sure hope in a God who loves us.  For me, those two words; those two amazing human emotions have taken a more deeply rooted, profound place in my heart over the past number of months.  What changed?

I have learned about a different kind of love and hope.  In November, I was diagnosed with cancer.  While I will spare you the medical jargon (most of which I still find extremely confusing), I will tell you the news blindsided me.  I felt fine at the time.  I was enjoying my family and working with a wonderful group of people one day, and the next day things changed.  It was sure.  It was wide-spread.  It was serious.  And it was scary.  It still is. 

There, in that moment, love and hope changed for me.  They became so much more meaningful.  They took a different kind of root deep within my spirit.  They would become the spring-board upon which my recovery could happen and will happen.  Don’t get me wrong, there are already a lot of hard days.  Chemo and radiation have taken a toll on my body and my spirit, but they also are vital parts of my recovery and treatment so I try, with all I have, to embrace that part.  I have to. 

I have experienced a different kind of love and hope lately.  I can’t quite describe it.  I pay attention more I suppose, and it seems others do as well.  I treasure the smaller gestures.  I notice more.  I appreciate more.  I feel more. 

Dear friends and family, you do that for me.  You always have.  But I see it differently lately.  I need you.  I need your gestures of love and hope, and I must share mine with you. 

As medications take their toll, as income declines, as the bills pile up, as appointments clutter my calendar, as I lose my hair, appetite, and taste, as I am more and more tired, please encourage me.  Your gestures of love and hope are the two most powerful weapons I am using to defeat this…and I am so thankful…more than I can ever adequately communicate and more than you could ever realize. 

Thank you and sending love and hope to you all.

Lora