Please help Natalie Romano & Her Family

Hi, my name is Valerie and I'm fundraising for my best friend of 25 years, Natalie Romano, and her family. Writing this is very hard, so please bare with me.

 

A month ago, Natalie was suffering from shoulder blade/back pain, shortness of breath, and was seen at several locations without success for a diagnosis.

Finally, she was seen at UPMC Altoona to find out that she had a large mass in her right lung.

 

Without hesitation, we wanted her to be seen in Pittsburgh. She was given two options.

Cpap and driven to Pittsburgh or sedated and vented. She chose to be vented due to hardly being able to catch her breath.

 

Fast forward 2 weeks and the biopsy finally came back as a rare (1%) synovial sarcoma.

(A very rare lung cancer.)

But this was just the beginning; There wasn't just one but two large masses growing VERY rapidly.

 

Fast forward two more weeks, and the prognosis wasn't what we had hoped and prayed for...

 

After 5 radiation treatments and one round of AIM chemo treatment, the mass seems to continue to grow. It's growing and pushing not only her heart, but her trachea is very narrow due to the masses, leaving everyone with only a few days to spend with her (per the doctors) before comfort measures are taken and she goes to be with God.

 

We are still praying for a miracle and appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers more than you know.

 

My heart breaks for her in more ways than I can explain, and definitely for her husband, their 3 beautiful children, and 11 rescued furbabies.

They are her world.

She's only 46 years old and if you have a best friend that you promised to be beside forever, you will understand why this is so very important to me. :(

All of this was all very fast and very sudden.

 

Natalie is one of the biggest hearts I have ever known. She would go out of her way for the world and be there instantly for anyone. I can't imagine any of our lives without her, our phone calls, our little escape voyages, and her wild spunk; this is genuinely unimaginable for all of us.

There is no doubt we will all be lost without her.

 

Due to finances, they can only stay at The Family House in Shadyside on the weekends.

And with the constant travel from Altoona to Pittsburgh, gas, food, and housing, it's a lot.

 

They need our help, not only now, but the expenses to follow will need to be covered as well, as she did not have life insurance etc. So anything will help.

 

At this time, they would be grateful for anything.

They want to spend as much time as they can with her right now and if we can ease their minds without worrying about the financial burdens, that would be an answered prayer in itself.

 

Thank you for helping my best friend and her family; we appreciate it more than you can imagine.
All funding will go directly to Brad Peters and her family. 

 

We love ya Nat. <3