This is my best friend, Rosemarie (Cavaliere) Hansen. I am starting this GoFundMe with permission of the Hansen family.
Rosemarie was a dedicated Yale spirited employee. Rose could always be found donating her time whether at work, helping Local 34, at the Guilford Community/Senior Center, helping a person in need or anywhere help was needed. Rose took the most pride with her beloved 4 horses, 1+ acre vegetable garden and Vermont vacation home. Rose was not your average active 60+ year old. Nothing could stop her, including putting a roof on the shed in Vermont by herself. I will add, she did a tremendous job! Rose was planning to retire soon to pursue all these dreams. Unfortunately, Rose was diagnosed with ALS after suffering for 2yrs trying to find out what was wrong with her health. Upon the diagnosis she was given a 3-5yrs life expectancy. This was such a traumatic experience for her family, friends, and Rose. She had been declining rapidly and had to request retirement earlier. Rose has been hospitalized since February. To give you a brief synopsis the ALS has attacked her breathing, voice, feeding and use of her hands. Rose had to get a tracheotomy to save her life and can no longer speak and is on a ventilator every night. She uses a special app on her phone to talk for her. She was on a feeding tube until 4wks ago when she said enough! Last week Rose decided to give the feeding tube surgery another try. This time it was surgically attached to her small intestine. This is her last attempt. She has had so many complications. She is 92lbs and losing weight rapidly. This is just a smidgen of what Rose is experiencing with this dreadful disease. It is so tragic. She had so many wonderful dreams for retirement and this was not one. Her husband who was nearing retirement as well had to stop working to take care of Rose and renovate their house to accommodate her disabilities. Rose has a son, two daughters and two small grandchildren who don’t understand her sickness, and a grandchild on the way. While some of the medical costs are covered by insurance there are a lot of out-of-pocket medical and travel expenses associated with her ongoing treatment. I am reaching out to all with a heavy heart to see if we can raise money to help financially relief some debt burden her family is faced with due to this atrocious non curable disease.
Finally, and most importantly, please remember Rosemarie in your prayers! In advance thanks for supporting my friend! God bless you all!