Support Kathy Hill's Battle Against Glioblastoma

This is Kathleen ‘Kathy’ Hill here. I’m 54 years old, I’ve been a nurse for 30 years and have two beautiful children.

I’ve been healthy and very active my entire life. I adore caring for my elderly patients, so getting this sudden diagnosis was extremely difficult and shattering.

In February, while caring for a patient, I began having seizures that brought me to the ER three days later. Nothing was seen on a CT scan, so I went to see my own doctor who ordered an MRI. In early March, an egg-sized tumor was discovered in my left temporal lobe. A week later, I saw the neurosurgeon who scheduled and explained the surgery for tumor removal. I continued to try and work and prepare my life for an unknown future. The tumor removal was very successful, during an awake surgery on April 3rd. After two weeks of recovery, I went back to see the neurosurgeon for a follow-up and biopsy results. I was shocked and stricken with the news that cancer cells were found and the tumor was then referred to as Glioblastoma. This is an incurable brain cancer. The next two weeks were filled with research, discussions, and many appointments. I am about to start 42 days of chemotherapy treatment and 30 radiation treatments over the next six weeks. I will then be on a month break but will have an MRI that will be the new baseline of my brain status. I will then start wearing an Optune device, forced to shave my head of my precious hair for the remainder of my life. I will resume chemotherapy pills 5 days a month with a 23-day break.

I’ve been unable to work but gratefully have been receiving donations of sick work days. This will not last forever and I’ve been inundated with researching and purchasing supplements and homeopathic/holistic remedies to keep me alive and well. I’m so incredibly close, less than 2 years from my retirement date with full benefits at 30 years of service.

I’m keeping a positive attitude and working hard at prolonging my life!!

Any help would be dearly appreciated and grateful!

I will keep updates here and on Facebook as they are necessary.

Loving thanks for everyone’s thoughts, prayers and gifts!