Noa’s Cancer Journey

Hi, we are raising funds to help Linda Mayer (Nafziger) and her daughter Noa with medical, living, and sadly funeral expenses. On November 7th, 2021 our family was devastated when we learned that Noa had an extremely rare stage four cancer at the age of 22. Only a year later on November 22nd, 2022, they had to make the impossible decision to stop treatment and place Noa on hospice where she will be spending her final days at home surrounded by those who love her. It's hard to believe that we will be losing someone as smart, caring, and funny as Noa so young, likely before Christmas of this year.

Linda & Noa have always been very generous and they truly help others whenever possible. Linda has been a licensed social worker for the past seventeen years, working full-time as a single parent while raising three children. Noa just graduated with honors in psychology and math and had planned to obtain her master's and doctorate degrees before pursuing a career researching mental health. Noa participated in multiple Habitat for Humanity projects where she helped build houses for others in need. She has always had such a giving heart and wanted to help others just like her mother.

These two amazing women need our help! Linda is Noa's full-time caregiver right now, and her biggest worry is that she will have to go back to work in three weeks because she can't afford to take any more time off work after using her life's savings. This along with the medical and funeral expenses are the last things that she should be worrying about at a time like this. Please help relieve their financial burden and let them cherish their final days together. Even if you can’t donate, please share and pray for them. Thank you to everyone for the outpouring of love, support, and prayers over the last year during this terrible time.

Cancer Information

As early as 2017, Noa was having intermittent leg pain in her upper thigh that felt like a pulled muscle. Unfortunately, the doctors weren't able to determine the cause and recommended leg stretches and physical therapy to address it. In July of 2021 she was having problems breathing, which the doctors attributed to COVID related pneumonia rather than the multiple lung tumors that she actually had. In September of 2021 she started having migraines which eventually led to scans where brain tumors were discovered in November of 2021.

As it turns out, her leg was where the alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) had started before spreading to her brain, lungs, pancreas, and abdomen. This type of cancer makes up less than 0.01% of all cancer cases and there are only about 80 cases diagnosed per year in the United States.

For the next year, she was in and out of the hospital literally fighting for her life with multiple brain surgeries, radiation, and non-stop chemotherapy before it reached the point where there is nothing left that can be done to stop the spread of it throughout her body.