Support for Shelly and Family

Hello everyone, my name is Mikayla Martin and I'm here to tell you the story about my mother, Shelly Martin. My mother and my father, Mike Martin, got married in August of 1992. It was love at first sight, just like any fairy tale. They enjoyed six great years of marriage and then I showed up. Originally, my mother was told that she could not have kids but one fine day she got the news that she was pregnant! Who would have thought! I grew up with the best parents ever, they did everything for me and with me. They were my biggest supporters growing up whether it came to my sporting events, my studies or anything I put my mind to. My mom accomplished so many things in her life. She married the man of her dreams, had a child against the odds, started up her own business and many other things. For a number of years, Shelly was involved with the group ABATE Region 2D. ABATE is "A Brotherhood Against Totalitarianism Enactments". She fought for the rights of motorcyclists and gave them all a voice. For 10 years, Shelly put together ceremonies to commemorate POW-MIA soldiers and Veterans. She made sure that those who gave their lives for us were never forgotten. She was involved in Girl Scouts and was my troop leader for nine years. During the spring of 2016, my mom started getting sick. She lost her appetite, she lost weight and she lost her overall spunk. In June of 2016, she had to be rushed to the ER because she could not keep anything down without throwing up and was in constant pain. After countless tests and three different hospitals, we recieved the worst news. My mother was diagnosed with Stage 3 Duodenal Cancer. The duodenal is the small bend right after the stomach and before the intestines. There was a huge mass that was blocking the passageway which explained why she could not eat and lost a lot of weight. While at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, my mother had to recieve a major surgery to remove the mass. After the six hour surgery, she had to undergo chemotherapy to try and keep the cancer at bay. She started with chemo pills but they affected her body too bad, almost killing her in the process. My mom had to switch to IV chemo because it didn't have as bad affects as the pills. She went through chemo until April of 2017. At a weekly visit, she had a CT Scan which revealed that instead of the cancer shrinking, it grew. With this horrible news, we were forced to switch to a different type of chemo that would hopefully make the cancer shrink. While on chemo, my mom started having lots of pain and loss of use in her right arm. She had an ultrasound done, and at first the doctors said it was just a pulled muscle. After the ultrasound, her arm continued to have a lot of pain and when she couldn’t take it anymore, she told the doctor that something else had to be wrong. They did a biopsy on her arm and found five different strands of cancer. She then had to go for five radiation treatments on her arm and meanwhile she had to stop chemotherapy. After the five treatments of radiation, she regained some use of her arm but the pain still remained. During this time, my mother’s hip started aggravating her and she could barely walk. A MRI was done on the hip and at first it was revealed that it was again, a torn muscle. Thinking that it was just a torn muscle, we went on with our lives. We looked to a new medication that was still in progress that would help my mom tremendously, but our insurance company denied the medicine twice. Our doctor even asked the drug company if they could donate a couple doses to help us to start the process of healing. After several weeks of constant pain and loss of appetite, my parents made an appointment to check if there was anything wrong. On September 25, 2017, my father took my mother to her appointment and the doctors admitted her overnight for more tests. While I was attending college at UW-Parkside, I got a text from my dad telling me that I should come home because it is important. I left college on September 26th and drove up to Aurora BayCare in Green Bay. I sat down next to my mother on the hospital bed and I got the worst news of my life. The CT scan from the night before revealed that the cancer spread to a lot of her upper torso, around her lungs, in her hip and in her right arm. The doctor suggested that we forget about the new medication because the cancer has progressed too far that it would most likely not work. The doctor also told us that my mother only has 3 weeks to 3 months left. Such a small time frame, so much happening so quick. The only thing we can do is wait. My mom is now at home but on hospice care, meaning that a nurse comes to our house a couple times a week to check up on her. I dropped out of college for the year to be with her every step of the way, even when the inevitable comes. It's hard for her to get around because she is so weak. The hardest thing for my family to do is plan the funeral of my mother while she is sitting right next to us.  My mother has been fighting this cancer for a year and three months and we are hoping that we can spend more time with her than expected. I really can't imagine my life without her and neither can my father. She is the rock of our family. We are asking for donations for not only the funeral costs but for the towering amounts of hospital bills. Anything helps. God Bless everyone and thank you.

-The Martin Family