Nella Best needs her Angels
We are certain that everyone who has ever been blessed to have Nella Best come into their lives, loves her as much as we do. She radiates love, kindness, positivity, and is the sweetest, strongest woman we know. Nella is a single momma living in Phoenix, who lives for her son, Cayden, and loves him in the fiercest way ever.
For those that don’t know her journey in the last 11 months and the struggles she is currently facing, we will catch you up to speed.
Life has been a roller coaster for Nella since she was furloughed from her job in March 2020. The furlough, which ultimately became a layoff, coupled with quarantining in the height of COVID was a time of heightened worry for Nella. During this time, in August 2020, she collapsed while grocery shopping. She was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered that not only did she have blood clots in her lungs, imaging, and later a biopsy, confirmed the worst. Nella was told she had a large cancerous tumor in her colon and cancerous spots on her liver. She received a stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis.
What followed were months of doctors’ appointments, naturopathic treatments, radiation and then chemotherapy. Radiation and chemotherapy were aggressive and very hard on Nella’s fragile body. Somehow, she always still mustered up the strength to be present for Cayden. Making sure he is always smiling and free from worry, is all she strived for.
After months of aggressive treatments, a scan was done in May 2021, that showed the tumor in the colon was gone. The cancerous spots in her liver remained, but the thought of the tumor being gone put us in celebration mode. She was to do one more round of chemotherapy and then another scan.
Where we are at now is a very sobering place. After battling with her insurance company, what was supposed to be a PET scan in early July became a CT scan. Insurance did not approve the PET scan. The CT scan came back a couple days ago and showed a new cancerous tumor that had appeared in her colon and the spots in the liver were still there. A benign, second tumor was also discovered. While it is benign right now, the doctors warn it will become cancerous down the road. With Nella’s shortened life expectancy, the doctors are currently unwilling to perform the surgery she would need to remove it. In addition, given the CT scan results, her oncologist ordered the PET scan to finally be completed. Again, insurance is denying it, even with the confirmed results of a new tumor. The doctors are appealing as we await a decision.
Nella is not able to work in her condition. She is lucky to still have health insurance, but unfortunately, that is no longer enough. Her multiple appeals to social security to be put on disability have been futile. They go off a point system, and unfortunately Nella has not worked enough quarters in the U.S. to qualify for social security disability. Her unemployment has been denied since they believe she should be on disability. So she has zero income coming in.
Nella’s main focus now is making sure she lives for her son and that Cayden is being taken care of. Stability is key in all of this, but with mounting bills it is getting difficult. Nella has been approached several times since August about starting a GoFundMe, but she never felt she was there, until now. Many people have asked us “how can I help?” Here is your chance to offer some help to the girl who would do the same for us. To the mama who fights endlessly to see her child grow up. To the feisty Italian that will kick cancer’s ass!
Bills are mounting up and naturopathic treatments are not covered by insurance. These treatments are vital to keeping her body strong enough to endure the harsh cancer treatments. If you can, please help. There’s no amount too small.
Thank you for you time,
Veronica Nabozny & Whitney Cordell
