- J
- K
To my immediate family, extended family, Bechtel family, friends, friends of friends and all who has compassion in your heart:
I am asking that you please copy and paste this request to your Facebook page, forward it in an email and everywhere else you can. I am humbly reaching out to all of you for help for a mother of three who has terminal cancer.
My daughter-in-law, Staci Willoughby is 31 years old, a wife, daughter and friend. Her children (my grandchildren) are ages 13, 10 and 5. In May 2014 she was struggling to breathe and was taken to the hospital. That is when we found out that she had stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. We were told that it was one of the most curable types of cancer. However, she had a
5 1/2” mass behind her breast plate and the finger system was wrapped around her heart and lungs and was therefore inoperable. The recommendation was chemo therapy. She endured 26 treatments. It made her extremely ill and damaged her kidneys and bladder but we remained hopeful that the chemo would rid her of this horrible disease and her damaged organs would repair themselves over time. We had to wait months to get the results. To our dismay, it didn’t work. So, the next step was radiation. She had 28 treatments. We were informed that she had had so much radiation that she would never be allowed to take it again. We had to wait 6 more months for those results. More bad news. We were crushed and Staci was in agony. The only option left was stem cell therapy. She was given massive amounts, very large doses, of chemo to completely destroy her system. Her blood was removed through a machine, filtered and returned to her body. That poor girl was in the hospital for four weeks and suffered while she bled from every orifice. Because her immune system was destroyed, my son had to be covered from head to toe when entering her hospital room and her children were not allowed to visit her at all. Fortunately the treatments ended and she was released from the hospital in time for her to see her children open their Christmas presents. Again, we had to wait for the results. They came last March. The stem cell treatments killed all of the cancer except for a small spot. By June that spot had doubled in size, by August it was affecting her lung, in September it was back to its original size and had spread to her arm pit and breast area. She said she can now feel it going over her shoulder and down her back. She suffers with nausea, excruciating pain,
coughing up blood, vomiting and urinating blood. To get out of bed takes every ounce of energy she has and afterwards has to take breathing treatments and be put on oxygen. She has stopped eating, only drinks a little fluids (which she throws back up) and has lost 35 pounds.
One of us are with her at all times and are there to ensure the kids don’t come home from school, alone, and see something they could not handle. They still have to have dinner, do homework, get baths and have as much of a normal life as possible. I can’t begin to tell you how heartbreaking it is to see them watch their mother struggling. She puts on a brave face and tries to be as strong as she can be for them. But, they are very aware of how serious this situation is and that their time with their mother is precious. Shane just turned 13, the oldest, tries to keep his emotions bottled up and is finding it difficult to cope with. Kyvin, the middle child, is 10. He told me he knows his mommy is dying and it’s all he can think about. He no longer sleeps in his bed. He has to sleep by her side. The youngest, Lailee is 5. She comes home from school and lies down on the couch next to her mommy’s hospital bed every day. My son, Doug, who has been by her side through it all is the one we are all the most concerned for. He broke down crying the other night and said “Mom, what am I going to do? Staci is my high school sweetheart and best friend.” “Even after all this time together, we would still sit up all night and just talk.” “What am I going to do without her?” (They have been together for 15 years.)
This family is suffering, struggling through a horrible time and it’s only going to get worse. Hospice has been brought in and her doctors have given her two months to live. They have no life insurance and thanks to Obama Care, no medical insurance. The medical bills are piling up and the monthly bills still have to be paid. We are doing everything we can to help Staci and her family but it’s just not enough. This is why I am reaching out to you and asking for help. We have set up a fund raising account for any donation that is received. For security reasons, the account has been set up through Owen Community Bank. For those who are local and wish to help, you can go directly to the bank and make a donation for Staci Willoughby. For those that would like to help but are unable to access the bank personally, this Fund Me Account has been established. Without insurance, the current expenses and those yet to come are overwhelming and without the efforts of many, I’m not sure how this family will be able to overcome it all. My deepest gratitude goes out to all of you for your kindness in this time of sorrow.
From the bottom of my heart…Thank you.
Roxanne Willoughby
I am asking that you please copy and paste this request to your Facebook page, forward it in an email and everywhere else you can. I am humbly reaching out to all of you for help for a mother of three who has terminal cancer.
My daughter-in-law, Staci Willoughby is 31 years old, a wife, daughter and friend. Her children (my grandchildren) are ages 13, 10 and 5. In May 2014 she was struggling to breathe and was taken to the hospital. That is when we found out that she had stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. We were told that it was one of the most curable types of cancer. However, she had a
5 1/2” mass behind her breast plate and the finger system was wrapped around her heart and lungs and was therefore inoperable. The recommendation was chemo therapy. She endured 26 treatments. It made her extremely ill and damaged her kidneys and bladder but we remained hopeful that the chemo would rid her of this horrible disease and her damaged organs would repair themselves over time. We had to wait months to get the results. To our dismay, it didn’t work. So, the next step was radiation. She had 28 treatments. We were informed that she had had so much radiation that she would never be allowed to take it again. We had to wait 6 more months for those results. More bad news. We were crushed and Staci was in agony. The only option left was stem cell therapy. She was given massive amounts, very large doses, of chemo to completely destroy her system. Her blood was removed through a machine, filtered and returned to her body. That poor girl was in the hospital for four weeks and suffered while she bled from every orifice. Because her immune system was destroyed, my son had to be covered from head to toe when entering her hospital room and her children were not allowed to visit her at all. Fortunately the treatments ended and she was released from the hospital in time for her to see her children open their Christmas presents. Again, we had to wait for the results. They came last March. The stem cell treatments killed all of the cancer except for a small spot. By June that spot had doubled in size, by August it was affecting her lung, in September it was back to its original size and had spread to her arm pit and breast area. She said she can now feel it going over her shoulder and down her back. She suffers with nausea, excruciating pain,
coughing up blood, vomiting and urinating blood. To get out of bed takes every ounce of energy she has and afterwards has to take breathing treatments and be put on oxygen. She has stopped eating, only drinks a little fluids (which she throws back up) and has lost 35 pounds.
One of us are with her at all times and are there to ensure the kids don’t come home from school, alone, and see something they could not handle. They still have to have dinner, do homework, get baths and have as much of a normal life as possible. I can’t begin to tell you how heartbreaking it is to see them watch their mother struggling. She puts on a brave face and tries to be as strong as she can be for them. But, they are very aware of how serious this situation is and that their time with their mother is precious. Shane just turned 13, the oldest, tries to keep his emotions bottled up and is finding it difficult to cope with. Kyvin, the middle child, is 10. He told me he knows his mommy is dying and it’s all he can think about. He no longer sleeps in his bed. He has to sleep by her side. The youngest, Lailee is 5. She comes home from school and lies down on the couch next to her mommy’s hospital bed every day. My son, Doug, who has been by her side through it all is the one we are all the most concerned for. He broke down crying the other night and said “Mom, what am I going to do? Staci is my high school sweetheart and best friend.” “Even after all this time together, we would still sit up all night and just talk.” “What am I going to do without her?” (They have been together for 15 years.)
This family is suffering, struggling through a horrible time and it’s only going to get worse. Hospice has been brought in and her doctors have given her two months to live. They have no life insurance and thanks to Obama Care, no medical insurance. The medical bills are piling up and the monthly bills still have to be paid. We are doing everything we can to help Staci and her family but it’s just not enough. This is why I am reaching out to you and asking for help. We have set up a fund raising account for any donation that is received. For security reasons, the account has been set up through Owen Community Bank. For those who are local and wish to help, you can go directly to the bank and make a donation for Staci Willoughby. For those that would like to help but are unable to access the bank personally, this Fund Me Account has been established. Without insurance, the current expenses and those yet to come are overwhelming and without the efforts of many, I’m not sure how this family will be able to overcome it all. My deepest gratitude goes out to all of you for your kindness in this time of sorrow.
From the bottom of my heart…Thank you.
Roxanne Willoughby