Rally for Laura's Cancer Battle and Recovery

My name is Rebecca, and my sister Megan and I want to reach out and share our mom's story. Our mom, Laura Granica, is a 60-year-old widow who lost her husband 2 years ago to a stroke. Our mom has not had an easy past couple of years, but she has persevered through everything and come out on the other side.

Our mom was faced with yet another heartbreaking obstacle in her life when she was diagnosed with Invasive Squamous Cell Carcinoma of her tongue in September of this year, just before my sister Megan's wedding day. On October 18, 2024, our mom underwent reconstructive tongue surgery to remove the cancer. They removed 1/4 of her tongue and reconstructed it with a skin graft taken from her left arm. They also took biopsies from her lymph nodes in her neck and an area at the base of her tongue that looked questionable for cancer, put drains in her neck and left arm, placed a temporary tracheostomy tube so she could breathe, and a nasogastric tube in her nose so she could eat after surgery.

Our mom was in the hospital for 5 days to start her recovery from her surgery. She was home for about a week before she ended up back in the hospital again because her incision on her neck from the surgery got infected, and she spent a week in the hospital on IV antibiotics. During that time in the hospital, her doctors told her the biopsy from the base of her tongue came back as cancer, and she would need radiation and chemo treatment after her infection clears in order to get rid of the cancer at that location.

Our mom has been preparing to start her radiation and chemo treatments. She will need to have radiation 5 days a week and a chemo treatment once a week for a total of 7 weeks. In addition to that, she has multiple appointments every week to see a speech therapist, a physical therapist, a nutritionist, her cancer surgeon, and a cancer psychologist as part of her recovery process. Due to the nature of her surgery and the uncertainty of how her radiation and chemo treatments will affect her health, our mom has not been able to go back to work. She only works part-time. She has been saddened about not being able to work because she enjoys what she does and misses her wonderful coworkers who have been nothing but supportive and have treated her like family through this whole process so far.

Our mom is also stressed and scared about her financial situation due to not being able to work at this time, and my sister and I are hoping to raise some money to help her out with her medical bills so she can focus more on her recovery and cancer treatment and be able to beat this with everything she has so she can get back to enjoying life. Our mom still has so much more left to live for and look forward to. She will be becoming a first-time grandma in March of 2025 as I am expecting my first child with my husband.

Our mom still has a long road ahead of her with many challenges. My sister and I ask for help in reaching our goal for our mom. Every little bit helps, and we appreciate you all taking the time to hear her story. We also appreciate you all for taking the time to make a donation to our cause if you can. We understand times are tough for everyone, but we truly appreciate your help.