Help Sarah Battle Oral Cancer

My daughter Sarah (32) is battling an aggressive cancer. She is in fight mode. Our goal is to ease the financial burden that comes with this disease so she can focus on what matters the most: Recovery. Your donation and prayers are a great way to support Sarah during the long road ahead of her.

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After weeks of struggling with unexplained and often debilitating pain, she has been diagnosed with mouth cancer, officially squamous cell carcinoma. She has a long road of treatment and recovery ahead, and our goal is to ease the financial burdens that come with this journey.

Thankfully, her medical team at UPMC said that though it will be an arduous fight, this cancer is treatable. Her surgeon said he will be seeing her for follow-up appointments many years into the future. Her recovery time will be about one year. That’s a whole year where she will not only be incurring significant medical expenses, but she also won’t be able to work. The money we raise will help Sarah with aspects of her treatment not covered, or undercovered, by her insurance, and with co-pays, premiums, deductibles, bills, necessities, and comforts while she has no income.

Sarah was officially diagnosed only a couple of weeks ago, and big things happened immediately. This next week she will undergo a long surgery to remove part of her tongue and reconstruct it with tissue and skin from her forearm and thigh. Yes, the medical technology at play here is amazing. Surgeons will have to remove a significant part of her tongue, and the swelling will cause her to have a tracheal tube placed. But she is facing everything with grace and bravery with her beautiful family by her side.

She will also need therapy to work on swallowing and speech. We will keep everyone updated on her progress here. We are praying no chemotherapy or radiation will be needed, but that currently is an unknown until after surgery.

If we can help Sarah and her family in reducing the financial burden of illness and treatment, it will help them to focus on what really matters: her recovery.