Join Kelly in Supporting Cathy’s Battle with Cancer

Hi everyone, my name is Kelly Halpin, and I received some very horrible and unwelcome news last September. My best friend of 40+ years, Cathy Howell Goodbrake, called to tell me she had been diagnosed with Stage 3 Adenocarcinoma Lung Cancer. Anyone that knows Cathy and me knows that from the age of 7, we have been inseparable, even with miles in between us.

Cathy did not want this news public, so I kept it quiet and remained available to her for whatever I could do. My weekly and recently almost daily phone calls checking up. Since September, Cathy has had numerous PET scans, biopsies, and chemotherapy treatments. Much more recently, she has had a pneumonectomy (one lung removed). The original plan was to only take a piece of the lung, but after complications, it became necessary to take it all.

As you all can probably guess, that surgery has been extremely difficult for Cathy to accept as well as recover from. Needless to say, the numerous lost hours and wages have put an enormous amount of financial stress and hardship on her. Sadly, there are almost no resources for basic living expenses to be obtained for cancer patients.

There are ones that pay for your medical bills; they will help pay for transportation or even a hotel near the place where you have chemotherapy, but they don't pay for things like cell phone, internet, credit card bills, car insurance, car payment, just basic home necessities like garbage bags and toilet paper, etc. I did not know these things until I listened to Cathy complain about them on numerous occasions. After hours of Google searches, grant research, and phone calls, she has exhausted every benefit.

Cathy may not be exactly thrilled with me outing her like this, but it is from the amount of love and respect that I have for her that makes it that I can't stand by and watch her struggle like this any longer. This is why I am calling on all of you out there to please do whatever you can to help. I'm attempting to raise as much money as possible to allow Cathy to focus on healing instead of on how she is going to support herself.

Cathy has always been a very generous, empathetic, and giving human, and if you know her, she's probably helped you or somebody you know just because that's how she is. Her nightmare has been going on for 6 months; let's not make it last one second longer. Please do whatever it is that you can, whether it's a dollar or $100, it doesn't matter; anything's going to help.

I will truly appreciate it, and I know she definitely will. When she gets over wanting to kill me for putting this on here, that is... Please share this!!!