Michele's Fight for Life

As many of us were preparing for the Holiday season the Earth was falling from beneath Michele's feet upon hearing the words no one is ever prepared for “You have Stage 3 Rectal Cancer.”

If you know Michele, she's quite adventurous and loves to scuba dive and skydive; she’s one of the bravest women I know, which is why it’s so hard to write this. This is not an easy place to be; where you need support from your community and it’s so hard to ask. But here we are. Michele needs our help.

She was told that if left untreated cancer would be life-threatening. Michele has faced many things in her life but never her mortality. She was propelled into treatment beginning with oral chemo and radiation for 28 days. Since the diagnosis Michele has been on a rollercoaster of ups and downs emotionally; from racing anxiety to crushing depression. The chemo has caused neuropathy in her hands and feet and as you know, Michele is Nail Tech, her hands are her tools. The radiation caused second and third-degree blistering burns making sitting for too long impossible. It’s been overwhelming and scary. It’s expensive and it’s not even close to over. Michele didn’t have any insurance for that first round of treatment, and thankfully Texas Oncology accepted Michele as a “self-pay” patient, graciously granting a generous discount for self-pay from the original over $100k treatment bill, but that still left a balance over $24,000, inclusive of doctors visits, radiation, and oral chemo.

Although she now has insurance, she had to pay what she owed for chemo in advance of receiving treatment since there is a large outstanding bill from radiation and oral chemo.

She’s had a port put in for the chemo infusions that have just begun. They’ve told her that she’s not meant to lose hair but can expect there will be other side effects, including nausea and painful sensitivity to anything cold. Eventually, after chemo, there will be surgery to remove the affected lymph node and the shrunken tumor, possibly more.

It’s a lot. Being a service provider and small business owner puts her at great risk she can work now but it’s already more limited with the treatment schedule. Michele fears as treatment intensifies that she may not be able to work at all due to side effects and compromised immunity.

This support request is for treatment, doctor visits, meals, overdue medical bills, and support from missed work.

There’s no donation too small and Michele is deeply grateful for your support in this new dance for her life.