Help This Young Mother

Hi, my name is Rebecca and I am fundraising for my beautiful daughter, Jessica. She's just 33 and before September was enjoying camping and adventures with her husband, three children and 5 beloved family dogs.

In September, Jessica had been struggling for weeks with an illness that just wouldn't go away. Being a young mother of three kiddos (Kellan is 7, Graham is 5 and Vaila is 1) she was used to just pushing through and waiting for things to improve. She even continued to work as she loves her job and wouldn't want to let anyone down. But after a month of struggling and not improving she went to her local ER when she had difficulty breathing and a high temperature. After a chest x-ray they noticed something that created concern so they also completed her first of many CT scans. The doctor told her that she had pneumonia which he would treat with antibiotics, but that he was going to refer her to oncology due to a large mediastinal mass seen in both the x-ray and CT scan. The mass was the about the size of a baseball. This is when fear of the unknown was at its worst.

Since Jessica lives in a small Iowa town, she decided to contact the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She forwarded her medical records and had an appointment with oncology a week following her ER visit. She completed several other tests and met with the oncology and pulmonary specialists. This is where we learned about Thymoma and the likelihood that is what she had. We all became terrified as this is so rare.

After more specialists, including the thoracic surgery team and radiologist reviewed her images and test results the diagnosis was official. We waited several days to find out what the next step would be. At first they didn't know if they would be able to remove the tumor due to it resting on her aorta arch, main pulmonary artery, atrial appendage and pericardium. The final verdict is it had to be removed and the thoracic surgeon said he would do it. We were relieved as this tumor has continued to grow since September. The other nodules seen in her CT and Pet Scans would be addressed after her surgery. We are praying this cancer hasn't spread.

With all of the doctor visits, ER visits, testing, road trips to the Mayo Clinic (which usually requires a hotel stay), and boarding their 5 family dogs each time they go - this has created a heavy financial burden for this young family. After surgery Jessica will be in recovery for several weeks unable to work or help care for her young children...she has to focus on healing. With the possibility of chemotherapy and radiation following her surgery her inability to get back to work for several weeks will put an additional financial strain on her and her family. She's worried about this complicated surgery, all of the bills, and how this will affect their Christmas since surgery is scheduled the first week of December.

Raising money for Jessica to help cover all of the expenses associated with her medical bills, other related expenses and household bills will help relieve some of the stress she and her family are going through with this unforeseen rare diagnosis.

I truly appreciate your donation as it will help lighten the burden for this young family. Thank you with all my heart.