On February 7th, 2025 my mom went in for lung cancer surgery. The surgery went well and she had to stay a couple days at Tacoma General Hospital. On February 12th, 2025 I went in for surgery as well and had a thyroidectomy. My surgery came with complications and problems and I had to stay overnight at Good Samaritan Hospital. During that time my mom developed a severe pleural effusion in her lungs and they put a chest tube in her. She was also stage 4 kidney disease and that turned into end stage renal disease while she was in the hospital. They started discussing dialysis. In the middle of all these things her hemoglobin dropped from a 9 to a 4, leading her to need several blood transfusions and additional procedures to locate the source of the internal bleeding. Also, due to her kidneys she developed an electrolyte imbalance causing her to be incoherent and also incontinent.

On February 23rd 2025, she checked out of Tacoma General Hospital AMA because she wasn’t thinking clearly and I had no choice but to bring her home. On February 24th, 2025 I called 911 because she couldn’t breathe and she was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital. Her pleural effusion had become much worse and another chest tube was put in. It was also determined that she would need to start dialysis right away so they did another procedure to put in a temporary dialysis port. I took her home from Good Samaritan Hospital on 3/8/2025. Also, I forgot to mention besides being incontinent, she wasn’t able to walk or sit up on her own. I had already missed a month of work from my surgery and then Nancy and I both had to start missing work at least 3 days a week to take my mom to dialysis, it took both us to get her there and back. Nancy would carry her up her flight of 13 stairs every single time we took her. In the meantime, she was having PT, OT and home health nurses coming to the house and I facilitated all of that. Unfortunately all the PT and OT wasn’t helping or working on my mom and she was sick all the time, it didn’t matter if it was a dialysis day or not.

On March 28th, 2025 I received a text from my mom while I was at work stating that she was being taken to the hospital by ambulance due to severe stomach pain. She was taken back to Tacoma General Hospital where they determined that the issue was her abdominal aortic aneurysm, which had now grown well past 5 centimeters. She was then transported to Harborview Hospital in Seattle in hopes that they would perform surgery and get the aneurysm out. The very next day she was told that it was now inoperable as the surgery would kill her and that it was likely to burst anytime. It was then my mom decided to have me call hospice as she wanted to pass away at home with her loved ones and be comfortable. Nancy, Merrilee and I picked her up from Harborview Hospital on March 29th, 2025. I was able to get hospice out to the house on Monday, March 31st, 2025. Since around noon on March 31st, 2025 she has been heavily sedated and essentially dying. She doesn’t have much longer to live, but I am happy she is at home and as comfortable as she can be, considering.

I am requesting a GoFundMe due to medical bills my mom has had at Harborview Hospital and because Nancy and I have been unable to work as we would do anything to help my mom, no matter the consequence. I am completely and utterly devastated by this series of events the past two months and losing my mom is the hardest and most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. She is my very best friend. I have spent almost every single morning with her for the past almost 4 years. My mom, Michelle Raye Woffinden is an amazing person. An absolutely phenomenal woman and if I can ever be half the woman she is, I will consider myself lucky. I am so grateful for all the time we have gotten to spend together the past few years. Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you can donate, thank you. If you can’t, I completely understand. We are all going through hard times. Thank you again.

Monica Elliott