Support Carolyn's Battle Against Lung Cancer

Dear Friends and Community,

We are reaching out to you on behalf of our dear friend Carolyn, who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. All of you middle-aged, health conscious humans out there are going to want to read this. Carolyn is one of the last people you would expect to get cancer. She lives a healthy, well-rounded lifestyle in the mountains - doing all the things we’re supposed to do - mediterranean/pescetarian diet, in love with quinoa and tofu, hiking and swimming, non-smoker, therapy when needed, and an active social life, throwing dance parties in her garage. Two months ago she was walking around living a perfectly normal life working as a psychotherapist and artist. Her life was turned upside down when a tumor was discovered randomly in mid-July.

Carolyn went for an x-ray on July 15th after she hurt her rib in a minor fall. The rib wasn’t broken, but the x-ray revealed a 4 cm mass on the other side of her lung. Since that moment, she’s been hospitalized three times, once for 5 days due to a blood clot in her dorsal vein (did you know cancer can cause blood clots?), once for 7 days for the lobectomy itself, in which the tumor and her lower left lobe was removed, and once for a complication of internal bleeding. As of this writing she remains in the hospital after 8 days, recovering from a second surgery which was needed to clear out the blood around her partially collapsed remaining left lobe.

Although her oncologist currently says the tumor was 3.5 centimeters, stage 1 and curable, Carolyn went through a horribly confused process in which she was told at different times it was Stage 3, then possibly Stage 1, then after the surgery Stage 2, then after pathology reports back to Stage 1.

Her insurance won’t cover a second opinion at City of Hope, which after the confusion of her cancer staging, she is trying to schedule for the end of September. Additional funding received from this effort will go towards medical expenses for her three hospitalizations, the cost of medications and health insurance, and daily costs of living she’s unable to cover right now. She needs our help.

If you don’t know Carolyn, she has many a talent. Although psychotherapy has been her bread and butter, she is a musician and artist, and has a business selling greeting cards. She posts comics, a la The New Yorker, and sells her cards on her Etsy shop, www.azilliondollars.com and you can see them on her IG: @azilliondollars (yes, I am plugging her business). She has aspirations of creating a comic book about this cancer experience, and her comics now include commentary on her cancer, who she has named Glenn. Based on “a not-very bright guy I might have known in junior high.”

Carolyn is a wonderful psychotherapist, who authentically cares for the world and those around her, and she is the brightest light. At my first internship, where I met her now almost twenty years ago, she was my clinical supervisor. She was my warm and fuzzy space. My angel. She is whip smart, and also was the safest place for me to find my feet as a wide eyed and vulnerable young clinician. I want Carolyn to be taken care of the way I felt taken care of by her, many years ago when she supervised me as a therapist just starting out.

I know times are tight for all of us. Any contribution helps and I would be much appreciative if you would pass this post along, and share it with your network. I am hopeful that with your generosity and support, she can focus on her health and well-being without as much worry about making ends meet. Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a meaningful difference. Your kindness and generosity are deeply appreciated.

With gratitude,

Katie, Kelly & Carolyn’s Village