After 16+ years in healthcare, from CNA to LPN to RN, anyone/everyone who knows me knows how hard this is for me. I was known as the one who never stopped, wpukd never slow down & never ask for help whether I needed it or not. At home I’m a single mom of 2 teenagers, a 13 little girl & 16 son who wants to be a nurse just like his mom and our 2 rescue dogs.

The April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse was described by some as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, while others called it life-changing and for our family we had no idea how true that was or that it would be the last time we would. That Thursday I ended up in the ER where a 16cm mass (grapefruit/small coconut sized) was found on my ovary and I was referred to a gynecological oncologist.

A month later I finally had my consult, where I also learned there was a mass on my other ovary. I had gone from being a size 4 with a flat stomach and in ONE MONTH this mass had grown to the size of a 20 week pregnancy, reaching up to my belly button. All possibilities for surgery were discussed with the “best case” if surgery showed it wasn’t cancer of just removing the mass, to the “worst case” of it being cancer and needing a full hysterectomy with my lymph nodes tested for spread.

So I anxiously awaited my surgery day which was yet ANOTHER month away with my “worst case” in mind and the anxiety of being out of work for 6-8 weeks with no income (which SHOULD NOT have been my worst concern, but not being able to take care of my kids was). During that time the masses in my stomach continued to grow but with definitive answer coming until after my exploratory surgery.

When I finally woke up from surgery my (and soon OUR) whole worlds were turned upside down. My “worst case” scenario became just the tip of the iceberg. I not only had the hysterectomy, they removed my appendix, part of my colon, my omentum (the protective layer of tissue/fat over our abdominal cavity), the masses removed from both ovaries weighed almost 8 POUNDS together, I was given an ileostomy and lymph nodes removed for testing.

I was told the masses on my ovaries were actually metastatic spread from a “GI primary” cancer but needed confirmation so I waited for confirmation. That confirmation came and I received the diagnosis of Stage 4 Metastatic Colon Cancer and not just any colon cancer: Mucinous Adenocarcinoma which is very rare and very aggressive. Every sample tested was positive for cancer/metastasis, including all my peritoneal fluid and 5 of 8 lymph nodes tested. My overall prognosis is a 5 year survival rate of 14%; 86% chance I won’t live to see my daughter turn 18.

I have applied for every single resource, benefit, disability benefit I can and am told despite my diagnosis that there’s a MANDATORY 5 month waiting period for benefits. I HATE asking anyone for help, despite everyone being so kind and telling me to “let them know if/what they can do” and offering to help me. To be completely honest I just need/want the bare minimum: I want to be able to pay my rent, buy food for my kids & dogs, be able to buy them their school supplies/clothes, and be able to make it to my treatments in VT so I can fight with everything I have to live for my family, for my kids! To not let another mother be taken away from her babies! So please, anything that you can do to donate, to raise, to share this message: it means more than I can possibly say!

Any/all funds raised will go directly for basic necessities for my family: rent, monthly bills, food, children’s school expenses and our transportation needs to go to/from UVM for my current regiment of chemotherapy infusions every 2 weeks & being sent home on a pump to receive 2 more days of chemotherapy before returning to be disconnected; I’m looking at 3 months on this treatment plan while awaiting reassessment for my HIPEC (and other) surgeries.