Support Erika's Urgent Surgery and Journey to Recovery

After long thought and prayer and with my sisters' consent, I have created this GoFundMe to share her story in hopes we can all come together and help her in her time of need.

April 24, 2024, is the date when our family was impacted by a medical emergency.

My sister Erika (29), or Cassie as some of you may know her was taken to the hospital for extreme pain in her upper abdomen. Soon after checking in she is taken into emergency surgery to remove her ruptured gallbladder.

Soon after discharge she noticed that the pain never really went away. We thought this was all just part of the healing process and she just needed to give her body some time to heal.

At that time Cassie was a stay-at-home mom to my handsome 2-year-old nephew but due to high emergency medical bills piling up, she was in need of a job to help get back on her feet and help her husband where she could financially.

August 2nd her husband received news that the company he worked for had filed for bankruptcy and they would not pay him what he was owed until bankruptcy was finalized and could not guarantee the total amount would be paid in full. This also caused major uncertainty and anxiety knowing their insurance would terminate any day. They had to put their savings together to pay for their rent, bills and food in order to get by this past month.

Thankfully he was able to find a new job this week but will not see a paycheck until a couple weeks leaving them to depend on my sister’s income 100%…until now.

Due to constant pain and everything she ate making her sick she called her doctor and due to the symptoms, she was having they ordered more studies and MRI to see what was going on since it was no longer normal and all the weight loss she has had since concerned him.

Yesterday, September 5th, 2024, she was called in to see a General Surgeon because they could not give her the results over the phone only to get the worst news we could ever receive. They informed us they have found a tumor in her abdomen wall extending to her rectus muscle. The GS believes it’s an aggressive fibromatosis tumor and are rarely cancerous but due to the type of tumor, timing and how fast it grew since April he was really concerned.

She was informed that if they are unable to fully remove it during surgery, they will have to refer her to oncology to receive chemo and radiation treatments until it’s completely vanished. The tumor will be sent to pathology for testing and confirm the type of tumor and if it’s indeed cancer or not.

Thankfully, she was immediately scheduled for surgery for removal this coming up Wednesday 9/11.

Today, the hospital has informed us since this is a “scheduled” surgery she will need to financially pay her patient portion prior to surgery in order for them to proceed with the surgery.

After all the emotional rollercoasters we are going through and trying to process all of this with her we have reached rock bottom and are in desperate need in gathering funds so she can have this surgery and be able to receive all the therapy and treatment she will need to fully recover and not have to worry about her insurance terminating any day and can also catch up on her medical bills, rent and child care for my nephew since she will not be able to fully care for him during this time since our parents live 2 hours nor will she be able to return to work until she is fully recovered.

We are extremely grateful and appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time in not only reading her story but also for your kind donations and ask to please share with your family and friends so that my sister can move forward with this surgery and be a step closer to recovery and putting all of this nightmare behind her so she can provide and care for her son, Luka.