Please Help My Mum Lucy
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Please help my mum Lucy . . . Her Story . . .
My mum, Lucila, has been nursing a cancer on her right cheek for more than 3 years. She is a 77 year old grandmother and lives in Manila, Philippines. Mum is a pensioner who receives about Php8,000 monthly (about A$270) and she is being looked after by her 72 year old sister. My sister, who still lives with my mum, only earns enough to provide food on the table.
In January 2014, my mother was diagnosed with Basal Cell Carcinoma and started Cryotherapy treatments with liquid nitrogen between January and May 2014, but the cancer cells recurred. One was found close to her right ear, so her doctor performed Moh's Surgery in July 2014.
While we all thought that the healing was going well, in December 2014, another biopsy was taken and cancer cells were found near her mouth. Moh's Surgery was performed again in February 2015 as the cancer had reached her middle facial nerve. She was referred to an ENT specialist who then found that it had spread into her mouth and needed an urgent major operation, using a procedure called Paroditectomy, with plastic reconstruction.
Mum was admitted to Medical City in Pasig on March 24, 2015. The operation, the following day, lasted 13 hours, and she had to be taken back to OR at 1.45am early the next morning for an additional operation due to complications. It was very stressful for everyone. Mum was in the hospital for 8 days.
The hospital and surgery bills for this were more than Php570,000 (about A$17,000) - money that mum and my family doesn't have.
The surgeons who attended to her during the operation said that the tumour had surrounded and covered her facial nerves and they had no choice but to cut the nerve that controls her ability to smile. For this reason, my Mum will not be able to smile anymore. Today she still has difficulty closing her right eye as a result of the operation.
After all of this, we were informed that now Mum has to undergo daily radiotherapy treatments for 6-7 weeks. The initial cost of this treatment plus all the other pre radiotherapy tests will cost almost another Php300,000 (about A$9,000) excluding the professional fees of the radio-oncologist who will perform the daily treatments to make sure that the micro cancer cells will be completely eradicated from her and stop the cancer from spreading to other parts of her face, including her brain.
Our family is completely lost again - and sad, as my mother knows she doesn't have the money to be able to afford the treatments.
My family is seeking financial assistance in whatever way you can help, so Mum can have her radiotherapy treatments very soon. Since she left the hospital she has had follow up visits to her doctors every week, again further expenses to us.
Total cost of my Mum's treatment is over $25,000 and we urgently need to raise this money to cover credit card cash advances and the radiotherapy.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please, if you can spare even a few dollars, it will help my mum enjoy maybe another 10 years of life.
Diane
My mum, Lucila, has been nursing a cancer on her right cheek for more than 3 years. She is a 77 year old grandmother and lives in Manila, Philippines. Mum is a pensioner who receives about Php8,000 monthly (about A$270) and she is being looked after by her 72 year old sister. My sister, who still lives with my mum, only earns enough to provide food on the table.
In January 2014, my mother was diagnosed with Basal Cell Carcinoma and started Cryotherapy treatments with liquid nitrogen between January and May 2014, but the cancer cells recurred. One was found close to her right ear, so her doctor performed Moh's Surgery in July 2014.
While we all thought that the healing was going well, in December 2014, another biopsy was taken and cancer cells were found near her mouth. Moh's Surgery was performed again in February 2015 as the cancer had reached her middle facial nerve. She was referred to an ENT specialist who then found that it had spread into her mouth and needed an urgent major operation, using a procedure called Paroditectomy, with plastic reconstruction.
Mum was admitted to Medical City in Pasig on March 24, 2015. The operation, the following day, lasted 13 hours, and she had to be taken back to OR at 1.45am early the next morning for an additional operation due to complications. It was very stressful for everyone. Mum was in the hospital for 8 days.
The hospital and surgery bills for this were more than Php570,000 (about A$17,000) - money that mum and my family doesn't have.
The surgeons who attended to her during the operation said that the tumour had surrounded and covered her facial nerves and they had no choice but to cut the nerve that controls her ability to smile. For this reason, my Mum will not be able to smile anymore. Today she still has difficulty closing her right eye as a result of the operation.
After all of this, we were informed that now Mum has to undergo daily radiotherapy treatments for 6-7 weeks. The initial cost of this treatment plus all the other pre radiotherapy tests will cost almost another Php300,000 (about A$9,000) excluding the professional fees of the radio-oncologist who will perform the daily treatments to make sure that the micro cancer cells will be completely eradicated from her and stop the cancer from spreading to other parts of her face, including her brain.
Our family is completely lost again - and sad, as my mother knows she doesn't have the money to be able to afford the treatments.
My family is seeking financial assistance in whatever way you can help, so Mum can have her radiotherapy treatments very soon. Since she left the hospital she has had follow up visits to her doctors every week, again further expenses to us.
Total cost of my Mum's treatment is over $25,000 and we urgently need to raise this money to cover credit card cash advances and the radiotherapy.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please, if you can spare even a few dollars, it will help my mum enjoy maybe another 10 years of life.
Diane
Organizer
Gavin Tipping
Organizer
New South, Wales