MaryEllen Wells Breast Cancer Support Fund

Hi Everyone,

We are starting this fundraiser on behalf of our beautiful and beloved friend, Mary Ellen Wells. Life has taken a turn for their family when Mary Ellen was diagnosed recently with triple positive breast cancer. Her treatment plan will start next week beginning with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. There will be six three-week cycles followed by surgery. This unexpected journey will bring both financial and emotional burdens to the family.

Mary Ellen’s beautiful and talented spirit shines through in all that she does. These days she applies her physical therapist expertise to teaching Pilates, which she adapts for seniors and those with chronic pain. She is unsure at this point if and how much she will be able to work teaching her classes. She loves to dance with her Soul Motion friends and tell great stories in her Body Tales performances. Windsor residents all over town are treated to her public piano playing. Mary Ellen is a source of friendship, love, comfort and brightness to anyone she is connected to. She is a sunlike hub of compassionate creativity in the worldwide network of autistic speller/writers. Her painstaking and brilliant work with her son, resulting in his high school diploma and college attendance, inspires others. Mary Ellen literally changes lives of other autistics and their parents through her tireless, selfless advocacy.

Mary Ellen is the wife of Brian McSweeney, a writer, and retired high school teacher of students with challenges like autism and other disabilities. She is the devoted mother to Noah McSweeney, an amazing 22-year-old young man with autism. Noah goes to Santa Rosa Junior College, writes profound poetry, and communicates best when he is able to spell on a letterboard or keyboard. Mary Ellen is his communication partner and might have limited capacity for this demanding function during chemo/immuno therapy. There will be an added expense to hire an experienced letterboard partner for Noah to keep his JC classes going. Your donations will help with this critical support for Mary Ellen and Noah.

We are launching this GoFundMe to alleviate some of the financial burdens on the family of Mary Ellen, Brian and Noah. No donation is too small, and every donation will make an incredible difference in supporting Mary Ellen and her family. Your kindness and support will help the family pay for medical bills. Brian and Mary Ellen survived previous cancer challenges using integrative medicine and will continue to use this lifesaving resource which is not covered by insurance. Also, some MD prescription medications for her cancer treatment plan are not covered by insurance. Please consider sharing this with others on social media through your network of friends, so that Mary Ellen can feel the magnitude of support surrounding her and her family during this challenging time. Mary Ellen is asking for us all to send love and to visualize her as vibrant, healthy, full of life, and excited for her future!