The day before Alisa's birthday this year, she was out of town but contacted me worried about her mother, Sheila.

Sheila has been valiantly fighting kidney cancer and later learned it was in her bladder. She has been through chemotherapy and treatments she had to hold in her bladder, attempting to fight the cancer.

Alisa's significant other had taken her on a birthday trip, and she asked me to accompany her mother to the emergency room so that she wouldn't be alone.

About two hours before midnight on Alisa's birthday, an ER physician uttered the words no one ever wants to hear: "Unfortunately, the cancer is now in your bones."

Sheila's cries weren't for herself, but for her daughter and what this would mean for her. She opted to wait until Alisa returned home to tell her the news.

Alisa, already struggling to keep her job after a car wreck left her with a traumatic brain injury and while caring for her mother, has now had to leave her job behind to care for her mother in the time she has left.

Alisa has always been there for me, and for many others in our group. It's now our turn to be there for her and her mother.

Please consider donating, sharing, and sending whatever loving thoughts/prayers their way as they navigate one of the toughest tribulations life brings to our door. Medicine, groceries, doctor's appointments—it all adds up so quickly, and even more so now than in years prior as prices skyrocket.