Support Our Mom Michaela's Fight Against Ovarian Cancer

Hi, I'm Sonia, and together with my brother David, we've created this fundraiser to help support our mom Michaela's fight against ovarian cancer.

Help Us Help Her

We've spent our lives witnessing mom endure countless hardships, working tirelessly to be the best mom she could be. We've seen her pour her time, energy, and love unconditionally and selflessly, sacrificing much to care for us, her hubby, and her mom as her full-time caregiver from 2009 to 2019 as she progressed from early to late-stage dementia. With your help, we can ensure that we all care for her this time!

How We Got Here

In April 2024, our whole world turned upside down. The dull pain mom had been feeling for months wasn't the gas or constipation it was frequently mistaken for but rather an easily overlooked hint of a much bigger issue aggressively and silently spreading within her body.

We received the first scan results within a few weeks, followed by several rounds of additional testing. Hearing the words "It's cancer" or "I'm very concerned these growths are malignant" from multiple physicians is never easy, especially hearing that news bundled together with the word metastatic. It initially felt like a bad dream.

In a matter of days, we went from not knowing a significant danger existed to now being hyper-aware of the aggressive and rapidly spreading malignancy moving in on Mom's body. We had just "beat" kidney cancer with me (Sonia) not even two years prior, and now we were faced with cancer again. This time with our sweet and innocent mom, in a more dangerous form.

Thoughts immediately began to flood our minds.

"Why her?"

"What did she ever do to deserve this?"

"What if we lose her?"

We wanted to immediately remove this from her, even take on the battle ourselves if it meant that cancer would spare our beautiful mom!

Once the initial shock passed, we knew we had to act, and we had to act fast. We knew there was only one place we could go for the absolute best chance of beating this: MD Anderson in Houston, TX. We knew the cross-country journey from our home base in NC would be worth any associated stress, effort, and cost. If it meant giving our mom the best odds of survival, we would make it work!

What's the Diagnosis

Mom was diagnosed with serous carcinoma (a form of ovarian cancer), high grade. She had multiple large tumors and abnormal growths throughout her abdominal region, including a spread to her spleen, liver, and possibly lymph node. She had a large tumor in her pelvic area, outside of her colon, and masses in her peritoneum, omentum, and mesentery tissue. The cancer was fast-growing and aggressive, the kind of cancer that's often only discovered at a later stage.

Surgery was not an option for mom as an initial step; instead, mom had to start chemo. Her treatment plan included 3-6 initial rounds of chemo at 3-week intervals, followed by surgery, then 6-9 more rounds of chemo. If her growths were unresponsive to chemo and determined to be low-grade, this treatment plan would change to hormonal therapy in a few months. No matter where we ended up, we had a very long road ahead of us, and we intended to have all treatments at MD Anderson, if possible.

Why We Need Help

Since diagnosis, we've taken countless cross-country trips between our home in NC and MD Anderson CC in Houston, TX. We know, without a doubt, that we made the right choice to go there. Mom's care is exceptional; she feels safe, confident, supported, seen, and optimistic. Aside from this world-class medical institution's professional achievements and accolades, the patient and patient family first approach is unmatched. We've made this happen with the generous support and help from all of you. We still have many outstanding bills that we'd like to take care of as soon as possible, in addition to preparing for what's ahead.

Mom has completed her chemo treatments as of December 2024, when SHE RANG THE BELL! Our fight is far from over, but this was a huge milestone. We've now moved to immunotherapy with Avastin for the next year plus, a medication meant to help delay return and in rare cases, avoid it. This will require visits to the hospital every 3 weeks. We will also return to MD Anderson CC for check-ups every 3-4 months, as needed. This will continue to add to our medical debt and financial strain.

We firmly believe part of kicking cancer's butt involves the patient's mindset, and we know keeping Mom's stress low (including financial concerns) will help keep her mentally strong and her mindset positive. She's been doing so well with all of her treatments and most importantly, she has hope. We want to preserve that hope!

To do this effectively, my brother and I need to be able to cover the significant costs associated with her care and our immediate family support, plus her 20% patient copay for any medical treatments completed.

We've exhausted our options (including 401k distributions, loans, and savings), and know those funds will only cover some things. We've never been a family of many means, only wealthy in love and laughter, and mom had to stop working years ago when she stepped into the role of her own mom's around-the-clock caregiver.

Even with a husband working full-time and us helping support each other, there's barely enough to cover expenses. Between kidney cancer, unexpected home repairs, and other significant financial burdens, to say times have been challenging is an understatement. We've only stayed above water by pooling our resources together in recent years.

To complicate an already difficult situation, I (Sonia) lost my job the same week we received the news about mom. Though the free time this unexpected loss of employment provides me is welcome and necessary for me to have the ability to stay by mom's side throughout all of this as her primary caregiver, the financial strain, stress, and pressure it creates isn't. Losing my job is especially heavy knowing the considerable travel and medical costs we have ahead of us as a family.

Who You're Helping

Our mom, Michaela, has a heart of gold. She's the best kind of human - a mom, grandma, and cat mom.:) She's witty, kind, sassy, and super hard-working. At 67, her story isn't over; she's just adding another notch to her belt of the many things she's endured and overcome in her lifetime.

We lovingly call her "happy feet" when a good song comes on (especially Prince), and she's an ice cream and cheesecake lover. She's started over with nothing more times than either of us can count and never shied away from scrubbing toilets or cleaning hotel rooms if that's what it took for us to have food on the table. She's never asked for nor needed a lot to be happy and taught us to cherish time with those we love over material things that don't matter in the long run. She's already courageously approaching this long journey, and we couldn't be more proud of her.

With your help, we want to make this journey less taxing by eliminating some or all associated financial stress.

How the Funds Will Be Used (Cost Breakdown)

All funds donated will go directly to our mom, Michaela, and the care and costs related to her ovarian cancer fight. Things funded will include:

What We Need

More than anything, we need your prayers and good thoughts, so thank you to anyone who takes the time to send blessings and warm thoughts our way.

We need your help with getting the word out. Please take the time to share our story and this page with other individuals, groups, or communities you know directly or on social. The more eyes we can get on this, the better our chances of meeting or exceeding our goal.

We need you to know that any amount donated is ok. We sincerely appreciate you contributing to our goal, whether $1, $100, $1000+. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

With love,

David & Sonia

Michaela's son & daughter

P.S. If by chance we're lucky enough to raise funds far beyond our family's direct need, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to one of our favorite homes for cancer patients and their families!