My Sister's Cancer Fight is My Fight

My name is Roni, and I'm fundraising for my sister Sheryl who is fighting breast cancer.

I’ve never known anyone with a heart so big for helping others like my sister, Sheryl. Over the years, I’ve watched Sheryl step up to the plate to help so many people, but the one she has helped the most is me. To say that I made a mess of my life would be an understatement. I came to her, the prodigal sister, asking her to help me put my life back together more than once. Consequently, Sheryl and I became partners in raising my two youngest children. Because of Sheryl‘s love for our children, Destiny and James have grown up in a stable home, full of love, support, direction, and haven’t had to want for much. Financially, Sheryl is the breadwinner of our family. Unfortunately, I have experienced some physical setbacks, and am unable to carry the weight of the family. I could never have provided in the way that my sister has, and I could name a huge list of people that she has helped over the years. Now Sheryl needs help.

Last year Sheryl found a lump in her breast, and soon after, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Faced with not having insurance, at first, she tried to do things by paying out-of-pocket, but soon depleted her savings and realized there was no way she could ever cover all the expenses. Sheryl got insurance, very expensive insurance at 1068.08 per month, which also included a very high out-of-pocket maximum (OOP) of $8500 per year. With her mastectomy being in October 2022, she met her OOP maximum before the end of the year, which then reset in January 2023. And then unfortunately, Sheryl experienced a horrible complication, which caused her to again meet her OOP maximum by February 2023. So on top of her monthly insurance payment, she is also paying $300 per month on the $17,000 for her OOP costs.

Due to radiation, Sheryl experienced a horrible injury. After her mastectomy there was still cancer in the layer right underneath her skin, so she had to undergo radiation. The doctor recklessly way over radiated her, causing a deep radiation injury that ended up killing much of her healthy tissue. This caused a really bad infection to set in that created an abscess. After two emergency surgeries to cut out the infection, multiple prescriptions of antibiotics, and weekly doctor visits, she is still fighting the infection and has a fist size open hole where her breast used to be, that she has to clean and pack every day until healthy tissue can grow back. Sheryl is not even close to being done with her journey. She still has to have reconstructive surgery, and that’s only if she has enough healthy tissue to work with. Once she has healed from her reconstructive surgery, Sheryl will have to have another mastectomy done to have her other breast removed.

Needless to say, this whole ordeal has been so overwhelmingly difficult on Sheryl, and she’s missed a great deal of work. Financially, my sister is drowning in medical bills and she’s become very behind on her other bills. This is all too much stress for my sister to be going through. I’ve watched her fight this all by herself the past year, and I don’t know how much longer she can do this alone. Sheryl has ALWAYS been the one that everyone else leans on. She has always had a heart to help people, which is why she bacame a therapist... where now she can help her clients become problem solvers themselves. Now, Sheryl needs to be the receiver in this journey. She needs help covering her insurance payments and paying her medical bills, so she can do her best to keep up with her household bills. My sister is one of the strongest women I know, but right now it’s going to take a village. She needs to be held up and cared for by as many people as possible.

From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely appreciate all those who are able to help!