Shiny Jules Fund
Donation protected
Dear friends and family of Julie Underwood-
On behalf of our beloved sister Julie, we have set up a gofundme account. For those who aren’t aware Julie’s brain tumors have shown significant growth. She and her doctors agreed the best course of action at this time is to undergo intense radiation and also chemotherapy.
Currently, Julie is on her fifth week of treatment and taking it on with full vengeance. However, the grueling treatments she has endured thus far is taking a toll on her ability to continue working at the capacity to comfortably maintain her finances. To offset this stressful burden, we’d like to offer Julie monetary support, so her main focus can be targeted exclusively towards her health and recovery throughout and post treatments. Her tenacious and positive spirit is the driving force that got her thru both prior brain surgeries and post op recovery. It is no surprise that our Shiny Jules remains upbeat and radiantly beautiful inside and out. Let’s come together again for Julie, her partner Mike and her family as she continues on this road to recovery.
From the bottom of all our hearts thank you all for the continued support and love given to our sister Julie.
Much love-
Rachel Reisdorf, Aimee Zingg Moon, Kate Richards, Sarah Haller and Lisa More
Julie's story . . .
- Words written by Julie's mother Linda Crane.
In December 2010, we first got the devastating news that Julie had brain cancer. It was a shock to all of us. How could this happen to our friend – one of the shiniest people we all know? Sometimes there are no answers. Her first surgery was the following February where one of the tumors was removed. Fortunately, Julie then had a terrific job at the W Club (UW Madison Athletics) with full health insurance coverage. Although recovery from a craniotomy is slow and difficult, Julie handled it well. At the time, she decided not to have surgery on the second, a problematically located tumor. Instead, she traveled to California for alternative treatments that would slow the tumor’s growth. To help with the cost of these uninsurable treatments, Julie’s friends rallied around her and raised almost $40,000. The tumor did shrink, but brain cancer isn’t really curable – it lurks.
In January of 2014, the W Club lost their “meat and potatoes” contract and almost all employees, including Julie, lost their jobs. But our talented Jules was scooped up shortly after by Sonic Foundry. Unfortunately, after only a couple of months on her new job, there was renewed, rapid growth of her tumor. In May of 2014, Julie underwent a trickier, newly developed surgical procedure to remove that tumor on the left rear side of her brain. This time the recovery was much more difficult. Moreover, this operation caused some memory problems called Aphasia – a condition somewhat like a stroke. But Julie fought back. With grace and determination, she worked hard to overcome these problems. Six months of recovery, lingering word memory problems, and an unsympathetic work manager at Sonic Foundry created a very difficult situation. Julie lost her position, along with her health insurance and short-term disability insurance. Even so, Julie was not deterred by these negative developments. She refused to feel sorry for herself and rallied once again.
Julie started a freelance graphic design business, even though she knew there would be limits to the number of hours she could put in, working on her computer. In spite of these restrictions, she built a clientele and managed this small business with help from her parents and the continued moral (and business) support of friends. Additionally, she also took on a part-time job. By this time, fortunately, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), providing health coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, was literally a life saver. Another positive development was Julie meeting her boyfriend Mike Everson, who keeps her laughing and positive through everything. And this year, when she tragically lost her close friend, Garrett Sullivan, Mike was right there, along with her Yorkie-Poo LeRoy and Dexter (Garrett’s Corgi pup), her family and friends.
Now, as hard as it is to fathom, Julie’s life has once again been turned upside down. In early September, her MRI showed rapid growth of the nasty rear tumor and growth on the front tumor as well, which were determined by her team of doctors to be inoperable. But the fabulous UW Health physicians at the Carbone Cancer Center came up with a treatment plan that would involve six weeks of radiation (with about six months of radiation side effects) and six months to a year of newly developed oral chemotherapy. She is now into her fifth week of treatment, which makes her very tired and feeling generally miserable. Given these adverse circumstances, she’s unable to work. Although she eventually plans to return to her business, it can’t be for many months. She does have health insurance, but her co-pays, medications, nutritional supplements, and daily living expenses are now overwhelming. She has no short-term disability insurance to help mitigate some of these expenses.
We so much want to help Julie. Many of us have talked about what we can do and we believe we’ve come up with a workable plan that will take at least some of the financial stress off Julie’s already overloaded plate.
On behalf of our beloved sister Julie, we have set up a gofundme account. For those who aren’t aware Julie’s brain tumors have shown significant growth. She and her doctors agreed the best course of action at this time is to undergo intense radiation and also chemotherapy.
Currently, Julie is on her fifth week of treatment and taking it on with full vengeance. However, the grueling treatments she has endured thus far is taking a toll on her ability to continue working at the capacity to comfortably maintain her finances. To offset this stressful burden, we’d like to offer Julie monetary support, so her main focus can be targeted exclusively towards her health and recovery throughout and post treatments. Her tenacious and positive spirit is the driving force that got her thru both prior brain surgeries and post op recovery. It is no surprise that our Shiny Jules remains upbeat and radiantly beautiful inside and out. Let’s come together again for Julie, her partner Mike and her family as she continues on this road to recovery.
From the bottom of all our hearts thank you all for the continued support and love given to our sister Julie.
Much love-
Rachel Reisdorf, Aimee Zingg Moon, Kate Richards, Sarah Haller and Lisa More
Julie's story . . .
- Words written by Julie's mother Linda Crane.
In December 2010, we first got the devastating news that Julie had brain cancer. It was a shock to all of us. How could this happen to our friend – one of the shiniest people we all know? Sometimes there are no answers. Her first surgery was the following February where one of the tumors was removed. Fortunately, Julie then had a terrific job at the W Club (UW Madison Athletics) with full health insurance coverage. Although recovery from a craniotomy is slow and difficult, Julie handled it well. At the time, she decided not to have surgery on the second, a problematically located tumor. Instead, she traveled to California for alternative treatments that would slow the tumor’s growth. To help with the cost of these uninsurable treatments, Julie’s friends rallied around her and raised almost $40,000. The tumor did shrink, but brain cancer isn’t really curable – it lurks.
In January of 2014, the W Club lost their “meat and potatoes” contract and almost all employees, including Julie, lost their jobs. But our talented Jules was scooped up shortly after by Sonic Foundry. Unfortunately, after only a couple of months on her new job, there was renewed, rapid growth of her tumor. In May of 2014, Julie underwent a trickier, newly developed surgical procedure to remove that tumor on the left rear side of her brain. This time the recovery was much more difficult. Moreover, this operation caused some memory problems called Aphasia – a condition somewhat like a stroke. But Julie fought back. With grace and determination, she worked hard to overcome these problems. Six months of recovery, lingering word memory problems, and an unsympathetic work manager at Sonic Foundry created a very difficult situation. Julie lost her position, along with her health insurance and short-term disability insurance. Even so, Julie was not deterred by these negative developments. She refused to feel sorry for herself and rallied once again.
Julie started a freelance graphic design business, even though she knew there would be limits to the number of hours she could put in, working on her computer. In spite of these restrictions, she built a clientele and managed this small business with help from her parents and the continued moral (and business) support of friends. Additionally, she also took on a part-time job. By this time, fortunately, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), providing health coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, was literally a life saver. Another positive development was Julie meeting her boyfriend Mike Everson, who keeps her laughing and positive through everything. And this year, when she tragically lost her close friend, Garrett Sullivan, Mike was right there, along with her Yorkie-Poo LeRoy and Dexter (Garrett’s Corgi pup), her family and friends.
Now, as hard as it is to fathom, Julie’s life has once again been turned upside down. In early September, her MRI showed rapid growth of the nasty rear tumor and growth on the front tumor as well, which were determined by her team of doctors to be inoperable. But the fabulous UW Health physicians at the Carbone Cancer Center came up with a treatment plan that would involve six weeks of radiation (with about six months of radiation side effects) and six months to a year of newly developed oral chemotherapy. She is now into her fifth week of treatment, which makes her very tired and feeling generally miserable. Given these adverse circumstances, she’s unable to work. Although she eventually plans to return to her business, it can’t be for many months. She does have health insurance, but her co-pays, medications, nutritional supplements, and daily living expenses are now overwhelming. She has no short-term disability insurance to help mitigate some of these expenses.
We so much want to help Julie. Many of us have talked about what we can do and we believe we’ve come up with a workable plan that will take at least some of the financial stress off Julie’s already overloaded plate.
Organizer and beneficiary
Rachel Reisdorf
Organizer
Madison, WI
Julie Underwood
Beneficiary
