Hello, my name is  Theresa 'Terri' Sandin and I have no idea about how to go about this. I have not made my condition public as of yet because I have always been one to weather a storm. However, this storm has lasted a lot longer and become more complicated than I had anticipated.

For the longest time my doctor thought I had acid reflux. He gave me medication for it. It did not subside. Finally I could not swallow and was sent to a doctor who used a scope to look at my throat and he saw a big lump. He did a biopsy and it turned out to be cancer.

I was seen by a ear, nose, and throat specialist who told me it was cancer of the epiglottis. (the flap that covers your wind pipe when you swallow). It was determined that I would need a tracheostomy, a feeding tube implanted, and a vascular port put in my left chest to access the chemotherapy infusion once chemo started. I went to surgery the 14th of May and of all the bad luck in the world my lung was punctured while the doctor attempted to thread the needle for the port. Of course as luck would have it this was not known until the next day when an x-ray was taken to check the position of the tracheostomy, port, and feeding tube. The x-ray showed I had a collapsed lung. A needle was inserted in my chest and the escaping air was vacuumed out over the following three days. I was put on oxygen. I had never needed oxygen before this, I simply had trouble swallowing. A three day hospital stay turned into 6 days,
In  mid September I was weaning myself off oxygen and had been off completely for about a month. Then, the second round of bad news. Over a couple days my oxygen saturation numbers started to drop. They dropped so far that I had no alternative but to seek medical assistance. On November 9 I went to the emergency room at the hospital where I received the radiation treatments. I was diagnosed with Covid 19. There were no beds available and since I had an oxygen concentrator at  home I was given two prescriptions, discharged, and sent home. I wondered how could this be because I completed my two doses of the vaccination in early May? I tested negative for the virus on November 22. I was told that all further medical appointments were cancelled and would have to be rescheduled. 

It is now December and I has gone through radiation treatment (a 3 hour round trip drive for 15 minutes of treatment 5 days a week for 7 weeks), and 6 weeks of chemotherapy, and I have survived  Covid 19. My medication pills must be crushed and dissolved in water for me to take them. This happens every 6 hours. My feeding liquid has to be placed in a plastic bag and hooked up to a pump and attached to the feeding tube daily. There is daily care for the tracheostomy site, routine medical changes of the dressing on the feeding tube site, along with associated tasks that also happen every 6 hours. I have no idea why, but I am still on oxygen. I cannot leave home without an oxygen tank. One of the things this fund would help with is a portable oxygen concentrator where I would at least not be chained to home and a tank. 

I thought what savings I had would help with the co-pay personal expenditures and it has but with all the complications it is nearly depleted. It is winter now in Minnesota and it seems as though my bills are becoming more and more for me. 
Thank you for taking the time to read this.