Rally for Mary: Cover Her Hospital Expenses

I am Angela and this is my little sister, Mary Shockley (and her fiancé Jeff Brown). 

6/22/2025 Update - Gallstones and bile leak:

My sister just spent 13 days in the hospital for gallstones in a botched removal that led to a bisection of her gallbladder instance being placed in her gallbladder and pancreas, bile ducts. Mary is also living with a line out of of her abdomen that is collecting bile into a container hanging off her belly. She has many procedures ahead.

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February 2025 - Ovarian cyst

Recently, she found out she has a 6-centimeter cyst and tumor on one of her ovaries. Next month, she will undergo surgery to remove the ovary and have it biopsied for cancer. If the tumor is cancerous rather than benign, she will have a total hysterectomy performed.

Our aunt, Ann Marie, passed from ovarian cancer just weeks before my little sister was born in 1991. This situation has come completely out of the blue. What is promising is my sister’s blood work and tumor markers; while elevated, she’s so far holding steady and there is no sign of cancer in her blood. The best-case scenario is that the tumor is benign, with the worst case being cancer, of course. She will be out of work for at least two weeks as she recovers.

This is where we need your help. Our entire family lives paycheck to paycheck, and we need help covering my sister’s hospital costs and time off work. She got engaged to Jeff last year, works at a Banfield Pet Hospital in Chicago, and loves animals. This situation is a nightmare and nothing I wanted to see anyone in my family experience ever again. I was a small child when I said goodbye to my aunt for the final time. Her loss was devastating. My sister is fortunate to have early intervention, and we are praying that removing this icky cyst and tumor will be the end of it. I am organizing this GoFundMe to raise anything possible to help her out. Attached is the estimate for her hospital stay at $3,800 (screenshot attached). We also hope to get her two weeks off work covered for a grand total of $6,000. If she does indeed have cancer, she’ll be out of work longer to recover from the hysterectomy.

Our mother has this to say: My daughter is in desperate need of help for her surgery and recovery. She will not be getting any help from the government, and her work disability does not kick in until 6 weeks, so that leaves us with crowdfunding. Please help if you can. Thank you dearly from the Shockley and Brown families.

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