Supporting Kathy Love Through Cancer

Hi everyone,

Over the last week, we (Kathy’s children, Tiffany and Josh) learned that our mother has advanced breast cancer, which has spread to her spine, skull, pelvis, and spinal cord (Leptomeningeal metastases). She is uninsured until August 1st.

The cancer was discovered on June 30th, after she collapsed while at home alone–fracturing her hip and lower vertebrae. An ambulance brought her to the Emergency Room because she was unable to move. There, we learned that she had lesions on her bones. The doctor described her metastasized bones as swiss cheese, which had cracked and crumbled.

She is currently bedridden and unable to sit up to eat. She requires an oxygen tube due to fluid compressing on her lungs. And they have inserted a nasogastric tube, which is helping to fight a series of symptoms that could lead to a potentially fatal lung infection. Once these symptoms have cleared and she is discharged from the hospital, she will need around the clock home health care to help with pain management and routine daily activities.

Her contagious love for life even shows in the hospital, where she has been joking with us and the nurses, keeping everyone laughing when she can, when her pain is under control. The diagnosis of Leptomeningeal disease (cancer spreading throughout her spinal cord) is the most devastating, because she has always been so active and youthful.

The lumbar compression fracture can take months to heal, and she is expected to begin radiation and chemo once she is strong enough to leave the hospital. Seeing our mother stuck in bed is a nightmare for all of us. We just want her to be comfortable over the next few months, and to not worry about how she is going to pay her mortgage payment or medical bills.

She has been working for 10 years at the Gaylord Resort. They laid off her department in mid-May and she was a contracted 1099 employee. We signed her up for a good insurance plan, but it cannot start until August 1st.

For anyone who is able to help, your money will go toward medical bills for the month of July, at-home medical equipment, mortgage payments, and any currently unforeseen costs related to this disease.

Thanks,

Tiffany and Josh

Painting is her passion and she wanted us to upload examples of her work.