Mayo Miracle-Support Nancy's Fight Against Stage 4 Cancer

Hello everyone,

I’m writing this fundraiser on behalf of my beautiful mother, Nancy Palmer. Over the past year, she’s been courageously fighting advanced stage 4 colon cancer, which has now metastasized to her liver, lungs, and pancreas. She has endured and inspired, leading with bravery, grace, love, and humility, despite the incredible pain and indignities of this late stage battle. With your help, there may still be light at the end of the treatment tunnel.

On June 24, 2024, my mother was blinded with crippling abdominal pain and nausea, which resulted in an immediate trip to the ER, and subsequent

hospital admission. After undergoing extensive testing, she was diagnosed with a malignant tumor that had already spread to her liver. Her long-term prognosis was severely compromised. This was an especially difficult reality to grasp given her prior symptoms, which had persisted for months ignored and unchecked by her primary care physician. Our family was told that her cancer would not have metastasized if caught even a few months earlier, which would have drastically impacted her survival chances.

In the weeks and months that followed, my mother has fought tirelessly against her illness, demonstrating an incredible will to live. In less than a year, she has had 5 biopsies, 14 independent procedures, 4 months of hospitalization, and 10 rounds of chemotherapy.

But after defying the odds thus far, my mother’s treatment has reached a critical juncture. Her tumors have grown, and the cancer is spreading rapidly. She is now struggling to breathe and has been unable to eat since late March. Currently hospitalized, her only hope to possibly beat the cancer lies in experimental new treatment regimens administered at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

It is, quite literally, a final journey. Without it, my mother has been offered an end-of-life sentence, and it remains her and my hope that she has exhausted every option in this fight.

Cancer has stolen too many dreams from my mother’s story. She was unable to see my sister graduate college, cannot take that long-delayed trip to the ocean, and has no freedom from pain. And yet, throughout every moment of her cancer narrative, my mother has ceaselessly continued her quest to bring love, compassion, and joy to those around her. She has given me, and every individual she’s touched, the very best of herself, even as she fights for life.

For every donation, prayer, or encouragement, we are grateful beyond words.

Here's where your donations will help

-1. Critical Care Medical Transport - $9,162

This amount facilitates to cost of my mother’s trip to Mayo via ICU ground transport. Her need for constant IV line treatment, and respiratory stabilization needs require a specially equipped medical vehicle and accompanying nurse to ensure her arrival at Mayo is safe and successful.

-2. Additional Mayo Clinic Expenses $3,612.00

Due to the extreme progression of my mother’s cancer, and experimental nature of several of her upcoming treatment regimes, Mayo Clinic has several expenses that no insurance will ever cover. This amount helps her with potential CAR-T cell therapy, radiotherapeutics, antibody-drug conjugates, and nano “small-wall” cancer therapies.

-3. Caregiver Costs $1,180

As my mother requires constant family caregiver attention, this amount will go towards helping a family member assist her during her prolonged stay at the Mayo Clinic, and allow full advocacy and loving care for her cancer treatments during her visit.

-4. External Cancer Expenses $4,600

As Stage 4 cancer comes with numerous out-of-pocket expenses, and my mother is long retired, this amount will go towards covering the lost household expenses needed to cope with her care.