May's Funeral Expenses
Donation protected
My name is Kellie, and I am raising money to help my mom pay for my sister's funeral expenses.
My sister, May, passed away on Sunday, March 20th, 2016. She was only 25 years old, and she had been fighting cancer for about 2 years.
You can read her story here: https://www.gofundme.com/mayphong
May's funeral will be held on Saturday, April 2nd, 2016 at the Green Acres Mortuary and Cemetary (401 N Hayden Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257) from 8am to 12pm . All friends and family are welcome to attend.
I'm going to describe what May and my family have been going through the two months leading up to her passing.
When May had started her gofundme months ago, we were very optimistic. May was young, and we felt certain she would be strong enough to take on the fight with cancer.
These past two months have been incredibly difficult. May had finished her last chemo and radiation sessions in early December, and she had been waiting to get tested to see if the treatments had worked. In January she started to complain of excruciating pains in her head. She went to the ER multiple times, and it was finally on February 18th, they admitted her instead of sending her away (The doctors believed she had mere sinus infections that would eventually go away. But the problem was that they didn't).
May had also lost her voice and started to have trouble breathing.
She spent two weeks in the hospital for pain control. She would be at a level 4 on the pain scale even with the meds they were giving her. She was also having a harder and harder time breathing.
Then one morning May texts me and says that she is going to the ICU. My mom and I rush to the hospital, where they tell us to wait in the waiting room. When we are finally allowed to see her, they had put a trach in her. There was so much blood, and she was in so much pain.
You can see her trach in this picture (the tube in her throat that allowed her to breathe). We practically had to beg for this dog to visit her in the ICU - so glad we made it happen.
May spent several more days in the ICU. On February 29, her doctors told us that her cancer is back on both sides of her neck as well as her vocal chords. Her oncologist visited us and gave us the bad news: The cancer is too aggressive. May has either a couple of weeks to a couple of months to live.
We tried to get her help. Clinical trials, second opinions. May was admitted to the hospice on March 1, and the nurses there told us she wouldn't make it past the week. But May stayed strong. She kept fighting. Again the nurses said she wouldn't last a week. And again she defied their expectations. (It's not their fault - May differed from their usual older tenants.)
May was getting a lot of medication which impaired her ability to see clearly. Even with all of the medicine, she would be at a level 8 for pain. She was unable to write on paper or a whiteboard. Her face was swollen and we couldn't read her lips. She was getting frustrated, and we were sorry we couldn't understand her.
This cancer took away her ability to communicate, to eat, and to get up out of bed freely. There was a lot of frustration, pain, and anger.
I am so grateful for everyone who has been so supportive. Thank you to May's friends who came to see her and to those who lent out their support. She was always so happy to see and talk to her friends.
May's doctors were unable to find out how she got cancer in the first place. She was such a happy person - and her happiness touched everyone she was around. Nobody, especially May, deserves to go this way.
Thank you for reading her story. And thank you in advance for donating.
My sister, May, passed away on Sunday, March 20th, 2016. She was only 25 years old, and she had been fighting cancer for about 2 years.
You can read her story here: https://www.gofundme.com/mayphong
May's funeral will be held on Saturday, April 2nd, 2016 at the Green Acres Mortuary and Cemetary (401 N Hayden Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257) from 8am to 12pm . All friends and family are welcome to attend.
I'm going to describe what May and my family have been going through the two months leading up to her passing.
When May had started her gofundme months ago, we were very optimistic. May was young, and we felt certain she would be strong enough to take on the fight with cancer.
These past two months have been incredibly difficult. May had finished her last chemo and radiation sessions in early December, and she had been waiting to get tested to see if the treatments had worked. In January she started to complain of excruciating pains in her head. She went to the ER multiple times, and it was finally on February 18th, they admitted her instead of sending her away (The doctors believed she had mere sinus infections that would eventually go away. But the problem was that they didn't).
May had also lost her voice and started to have trouble breathing.
She spent two weeks in the hospital for pain control. She would be at a level 4 on the pain scale even with the meds they were giving her. She was also having a harder and harder time breathing.
Then one morning May texts me and says that she is going to the ICU. My mom and I rush to the hospital, where they tell us to wait in the waiting room. When we are finally allowed to see her, they had put a trach in her. There was so much blood, and she was in so much pain.
You can see her trach in this picture (the tube in her throat that allowed her to breathe). We practically had to beg for this dog to visit her in the ICU - so glad we made it happen.
May spent several more days in the ICU. On February 29, her doctors told us that her cancer is back on both sides of her neck as well as her vocal chords. Her oncologist visited us and gave us the bad news: The cancer is too aggressive. May has either a couple of weeks to a couple of months to live.
We tried to get her help. Clinical trials, second opinions. May was admitted to the hospice on March 1, and the nurses there told us she wouldn't make it past the week. But May stayed strong. She kept fighting. Again the nurses said she wouldn't last a week. And again she defied their expectations. (It's not their fault - May differed from their usual older tenants.)
May was getting a lot of medication which impaired her ability to see clearly. Even with all of the medicine, she would be at a level 8 for pain. She was unable to write on paper or a whiteboard. Her face was swollen and we couldn't read her lips. She was getting frustrated, and we were sorry we couldn't understand her.
This cancer took away her ability to communicate, to eat, and to get up out of bed freely. There was a lot of frustration, pain, and anger.
I am so grateful for everyone who has been so supportive. Thank you to May's friends who came to see her and to those who lent out their support. She was always so happy to see and talk to her friends.
May's doctors were unable to find out how she got cancer in the first place. She was such a happy person - and her happiness touched everyone she was around. Nobody, especially May, deserves to go this way.
Thank you for reading her story. And thank you in advance for donating.
Organizer
Kellie Phong
Organizer
Gilbert, AZ