Support Linda's Cancer Treatment Journey

Hi, my name is Kristin, and as a family we decided to set up this account for my mom, Linda. The purpose of this fundraiser is to offset her medical bills not covered by Medicare.

Our world changed on September 29th, 2023, when mom was admitted to Altru Hospital here in Grand Forks with abdomnal pain. After six days and many tests, it was determined that she had Stage 3 Peritoneal cancer, and treatment would start immediately. A scary time to say the least.

My brother Brian, his wife Kristen, and I decided early on this was not a journey my mom would take alone. One or two of us has been at every Doctor's appointment, a few times all three of us. Mom's oncologist, Dr. Panico, truly has been a blessing, as have the entire staff at the Altru Cancer Center. Over the course of the last ten months, many words have been added to our vocabulary as well as a some medical knowledge. Carboplatin and Paclitaxel were the chemo drugs she started with, administered every three weeks. In January of this year, mom underwent surgery at the University of Minnesota with a wonderful surgeon, Dr. Gellar. Testing on a mass found on her ovary showed mom actually has ovarian cancer. The cancer designation for both types of cancer is CA125 and the treatment is exactly the same.

Mom was working as the school librarian in Fisher, Minnesota. A job she absolutely loved, and the school administration was very gracious in working around her cancer schedule, which left her unable to work about half of every month. Unfortunately this resulted in a significant loss of income. In May, mom made the difficult decision to retire, and is now living off her Social Security retirement.

As you can imagine, cancer treatment isn't cheap, and her portion of the bills has quickly added up. With a fixed income, she is making minimum payments, but the number keeps growing. That's why we decided to set this up to help her. All money raised will be directly deposited into mom's bank account and she will use it to offset the bills.

We have been extremely blessed to have a strong community of people praying for mom, and us, during this journey. The chemo drugs have changed as mom built up a tolerance to the Carboplatin, but she has renewed energy, mobility, and the cancer is significantly less.

Thank you for any support you can offer, whether prayer, donating, and/or sharing this post.

"There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off."

Proverbs 23:18