My name is Victoria Smith, and I have been married to Todd Smith for almost 34 years now. My youngest sister-in-law, Leslye Smith, was diagnosed approximately five years ago at the age of 44 with a very aggressive form of colon cancer, and an emergency surgery was performed.

Fast forward five years, multiple surgeries, it has been a nonstop fight with medications that were working, then quit working, and horrible side effects, along with nonstop visits to Moffitt in Tampa. Amazingly, she has been able to work part-time, but is in quite a bit of pain now after having another surgery due to a growth in her abdomen area. Right now, she’s having wound healing issues, she cannot work, and she can’t get additional treatment until this is healed. If you were to look at her, you would never in a million years dream of what she has been through!

The most precious things in her life are her family. She has three grown kids and two grandchildren who I truly believe keep her fighting, along with an awesome husband, Jason, and wonderful parents! As you can imagine, over the last five years, the amount of money spent is more than I could ever know. Jason and Leslye have fought this battle together, and we can only pray that she at some point gets into remission. I was amazed looking at her pictures; you would never know she was sick, and all of her pictures are with family, friends, kids, and grandkids.

They really need this GoFundMe to keep food on the table, for gas to drive to Tampa for treatment, co-pays for medications that insurance doesn’t cover, or payments for treatment. Insurance will not cover medications or treatments because they are not FDA approved yet and sometimes considered a clinical trial. My greatest wish would be for her to go into total remission and for the cancer to stop spreading. At 49 years old, you should be looking forward to the things that you want to do in life when you retire! I know they would love to go on a longer cruise if she was medically able, take a trip out to see the Grand Canyon, but most of all, be here to see her kids and grandkids grow up!

Any donation will help. Every five dollars adds up, and ultimately, I would love for her to get enough so that she could relax and not have to worry so much about that part of the treatment. Friends of mine, I beg of you to help out. She is one of the toughest people I know and deserves to continue to fight this horrible disease.

thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers!