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I am writing to raise funds for my mother Tanja who is 76 and lives alone in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Over the holidays, she took a very bad fall - a fall so severe that it broke her pelvis in two places and fractured her twelfth vertebra. The injuries resulting from this tumble combined with her already-fragile body have been extremely hard on her routine day-to-day activities. As a single mother living in Los Angeles, I can’t physically be there for her half a world away, and I'm looking to help her out the best way I can.
A little bit of backstory on my mom... Seven years ago she was diagnosed with stage 3B lung cancer. The tumor was removed, but sadly, two weeks later her entire lung collapsed. The doctors had to act quickly to save her, but they had to remove her right lung in the process of doing so. I honestly thought at that time that I was going to loose her forever.
Hospitals in Croatia do not have the type of advanced technology that we are privy to here in the US, so these two surgeries where not done via laparascopy ( small incisions and cameras). Rather, they fully cut her chest open twice which took a tremendous toll on her body. While we are so grateful the cancer has not returned, the neuropathic pains from two hard operations and the shortness of breath due to living with one lung have taken their toll on her. She takes THC daily to help with the constant pain. Despite all of this, my mom has continued to fight for her life. She walks as much as her lung will allow, she has a sweet morning routine and feeds all the stray cats and the pigeons in the city, she cooks for herself and manages to do the things she needs on her own. Honestly, she's so beautiful, if you saw her on the street you would never guess she's been through hell and back.
As I mentioned, she lives on her own on the second floor of a building with no elevator. As a result of her breaks and fractures, she now has to wear a back brace for the next three months. Going up and down the stairs is no longer possible and she needs everything delivered to her. As she cannot stand for longer than a few minutes without pain, all of her meals need to be prepared for her. She basically needs help with everything. If she does need to leave the house to see a doctor, she has to call the ambulance to bring her up and down the stairs via a special chair, which is yet another out of pocket expense.
Although health care in Croatia is socialized (free), things like getting MRI' and seeing specialists can take a very long time (Sometimes up to a year!) In order for my mom to get these services immediately, she needs to pay privatized hospitals and doctors.
Many of you have met and even stayed with my mom in Croatia. For those of you who don’t know her, she is one of the strongest women I know. She raised me alone while taking care of her sick mother. She gave me the best life she could and worked incredibly hard to make this happen. She battled cancer alone. She has always gone out of her way to help others around her and is an extremely generous human being. Despite a pretty hard life, she keeps smiling and continues to stop to smell the flowers. She actually stops to smell them... like always.
I am asking for help via this Go Fund Me as my mom lives on a very small pension, and I need to ensure she gets the care she needs. Sadly, her savings were spent the first year post cancer. This money would assure that she has someone cooking for her and caring for every day for 4-5 hours for the next three months. It will allow her to call the ambulance to get her up and down the stairs and to be able to see the doctors she needs straight away.
My mom's sister passed away last year and now it's just the two of us. We are best friends and each others only family. It is not only hard to be so far away and not be able to be by her side, it's also really hard that I'm not in a position where I can pay for her care myself. All I can do is hope that the contributions from her friends and this community can alleviate some of the financial stress that this has placed on her and on us.
Thank you so much for any donation you can make. Every bit helps and my mom and I sincerely appreciate it.
A little bit of backstory on my mom... Seven years ago she was diagnosed with stage 3B lung cancer. The tumor was removed, but sadly, two weeks later her entire lung collapsed. The doctors had to act quickly to save her, but they had to remove her right lung in the process of doing so. I honestly thought at that time that I was going to loose her forever.
Hospitals in Croatia do not have the type of advanced technology that we are privy to here in the US, so these two surgeries where not done via laparascopy ( small incisions and cameras). Rather, they fully cut her chest open twice which took a tremendous toll on her body. While we are so grateful the cancer has not returned, the neuropathic pains from two hard operations and the shortness of breath due to living with one lung have taken their toll on her. She takes THC daily to help with the constant pain. Despite all of this, my mom has continued to fight for her life. She walks as much as her lung will allow, she has a sweet morning routine and feeds all the stray cats and the pigeons in the city, she cooks for herself and manages to do the things she needs on her own. Honestly, she's so beautiful, if you saw her on the street you would never guess she's been through hell and back.
As I mentioned, she lives on her own on the second floor of a building with no elevator. As a result of her breaks and fractures, she now has to wear a back brace for the next three months. Going up and down the stairs is no longer possible and she needs everything delivered to her. As she cannot stand for longer than a few minutes without pain, all of her meals need to be prepared for her. She basically needs help with everything. If she does need to leave the house to see a doctor, she has to call the ambulance to bring her up and down the stairs via a special chair, which is yet another out of pocket expense.
Although health care in Croatia is socialized (free), things like getting MRI' and seeing specialists can take a very long time (Sometimes up to a year!) In order for my mom to get these services immediately, she needs to pay privatized hospitals and doctors.
Many of you have met and even stayed with my mom in Croatia. For those of you who don’t know her, she is one of the strongest women I know. She raised me alone while taking care of her sick mother. She gave me the best life she could and worked incredibly hard to make this happen. She battled cancer alone. She has always gone out of her way to help others around her and is an extremely generous human being. Despite a pretty hard life, she keeps smiling and continues to stop to smell the flowers. She actually stops to smell them... like always.
I am asking for help via this Go Fund Me as my mom lives on a very small pension, and I need to ensure she gets the care she needs. Sadly, her savings were spent the first year post cancer. This money would assure that she has someone cooking for her and caring for every day for 4-5 hours for the next three months. It will allow her to call the ambulance to get her up and down the stairs and to be able to see the doctors she needs straight away.
My mom's sister passed away last year and now it's just the two of us. We are best friends and each others only family. It is not only hard to be so far away and not be able to be by her side, it's also really hard that I'm not in a position where I can pay for her care myself. All I can do is hope that the contributions from her friends and this community can alleviate some of the financial stress that this has placed on her and on us.
Thank you so much for any donation you can make. Every bit helps and my mom and I sincerely appreciate it.