My mom, Carol, has had a long history of medical-related issues since birth. Until recently, things have been manageable. About 8 weeks ago, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 1 bladder cancer. She had surgery where they removed 3 large tumors, and then 2 weeks later, she began intravesical chemotherapy administered directly into the bladder. She struggled with this—lots of pain and discomfort—and during all of this, she still continued to work 5-6 days a week.

Some history of my mom:

She has been a patient care technician at Ocean Medical Center for close to 20 years. A few months ago, she came off of working nights and began working as a phlebotomist in a local doctor's office in Ramtown. Carol is married, a mom of 3, and a grandmother of 3. Carol has helped her husband coach basketball and softball with the Brick Rec Dept for roughly 5-6 years.

Today (4/4/25), Carol had a cystoscopy where they discovered the cancer had grown back and was blocking the ureter, which may be the cause of some of the pain she was experiencing. We were shocked to hear the cancer grew back so quickly and so big. A few days ago, Carol had a CT scan of her torso, and the test showed that there is a tumor that has spread onto one of her lungs, and it is partially collapsed.

Right now, we are looking into Carol going on medical disability, but in the meantime, she has not been at the current job long enough to take any paid time off. This has caused and will continue to cause financial difficulties. As a result, I have started this fundraiser for my parents to try and ease their burden and allow them to focus on the next steps of this journey.