Michael and Lori Dennerlein

Hi, my name is Michael Lipton and I am humbly asking for donations in support of my mother Lori and father Michael Dennerlein, in what has quickly become the most horrific scenario our family has had to face. A few months ago, my mother was diagnosed with stage 3, possibly stage 4 ovarian cancer. It was caught much later than it should have been, due to a misdiagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver. So far it has been a constant battle with maintaining her vitals, levels, and fluid draining from her abdomen. This, paired with a lack of ability to eat and move around, has caused her to become very frail and weak. The issue then becomes keeping her strong enough to accept and withstand the chemo treatments. In the next couple of months, she will undergo a hysterectomy and develop a further plan with her doctors of how to battle the remaining cancer.

Currently, her condition has become such that she requires around the clock care and supervision. She is a constant fall risk and often needs help with all of the basic functions of life.

Michael, Lori's husband, my father, is currently giving everything he has to give in order to save her life. Every day has been dedicated to the sole purpose of giving her a means to continue this fight; financially, emotionally, and physically.

Back in the beginning of 2023, Michael had a work related accident that caused him to be out of work for 6 1/2 months and almost ended his career on the RailRoad. Shortly after returning back to work, all of this happened! Already near fully depleting his PTO and lack of work in the past year, has made the financial situation bleak. Michael has had to make himself available to attend hospitals daily to advocate for my mom, and ensure that she is getting the proper nourishment as well as care rather than being overlooked, which happens all too often. During the periods that she is released to her home, Michael must stay out of work in order to attend to every facet of her home care. In doing so, this has become a full time job keeping him from his actual full time job.

My father and I have been looking into getting my mom into a rehab facility but at this stage, she is too weak and immobile, so a majority of facilities will not accept her. This GoFundMe is to be used to get my mom an in-house aide that can work with her to strengthen her, have her eat and tend to her daily activities so Michael can freely attend work in order to pay for all the medical and home bills that are piling up.

My mom is a woman who has given her whole life to helping others while putting herself and her own needs in the background. As life is often reciprocal, it is now her time to have others take care of her. She has always lived life to the fullest and is in no way ready to give it up. Her will to live and make a full recovery is undeniable; Lori and Michael are about to become first time grandparents at the end of February. To be able to put all of this sorrow away and embrace the joy of their grandson is indescribable. In order to make this possible, we need to overcome the deficiencies of a flawed healthcare system and enable her to have the kind of care that it will take to get her strong enough to beat this awful disease. With all of the donations from our work brothers and sisters, friends, family as well as angel donors we don’t have the pleasure to know, we can make this a reality. Thank you everyone for your compassionate generosity.