Susie's Fight Fund

Hello, friends, family, coworkers, neighbors and more. As many of you have heard, on December 2nd, 2021 my family received terrible news. My mother went to the ER of Norton Downtown Hospital in Louisville with severe abdominal pain and swelling. She called me before leaving because she was worried she would be wasting my coworkers time (I've worked at Norton Downtown ER for three years now) and they would think she was silly for going to the ER. My dad and I encouraged her to go, because she never complains and hardly ever gets sick, so this must truly be bad. My Dad took her in, due to COVID policies she could only have one guest with her. They drew labs and did a CT and then told her unexpected, shocking, and heartbraking news. Her single CT scan indicated advanced cancer in her abdomen of unknown origin, but had clearly metastasized from its source. Mom and Dad told my sister, my husband, and I via video chat. My dad told my brother later that night. She was admitted to the hospital where she would spend nearly the next whole week getting poked and proded in every way trying to learn more about this aggressive cancer; a paracentisis, additional CT scan, transvaginal ultrasound, colonoscopy, daily blood work, mammogram, ultrasound of the breasts, a team of internal medicine physicians, oncologists, gastrologists, nurse practioners, nurses, radiology techs, CNAs. At this time, we know she has ovarian canver with likely involvement of peritoneum, omentum, bilateral ovaries, and sigmoid colon. They made a plan to start her with tri-weekly chemo infusions for three months, then surgery, then three more months of chemo. They let her go home, Norton Audoban IR placed a port on December 10th for her chemo infusions. She starts chemo December 14th at the Norton Cancer Institute.

But here's the thing y'all, Mom is an otherwise healthly 50 year old woman who has been a nurse for her whole life. She just recently was promoted to charge nurse. She was traveling Egypt on her birthday. She was running 5Ks and planning a cruise the Alaska. So naturally, when open enrollment occurred this last October, she got the "I'm never sick" healthcare plan. And very nearly immeadiatley following the ER doctor saying cancer my mom started to stress. She started to plan. She put her mental capacities to work on financial realities and worried. She worried so much. She cried about work and started penny pinching day of. She was doing mental math about how much the singular ER visit cost and how her deductable was likely met on day two in the hospital and how it would start over Jan. 1st. She sent my Dad back to work two days in, saying he had to work, but missed him the moment he was gone.

Many of you have reached out and asked how you can help, and Mom has cried, laughed, smiled, and enjoyed hearing from everyone. I couldn't begin to tell you how much those words have meant during this time of stress, saddness, and shock. So this page is because Susie and Jeremy Bowen would never ask. They have "figured out a way" for so long that they'd never look for help this way. Christmas is coming and Mom needs to breathe a little. I plan to tell her about this page when the goal is met, but until then I'd appreciate keeping it a secret because I fear it would make her self-concious. But please leave your name and notes if you want, I'd love to write them all down and give them to her. My mother is our family's hero and she needs to focus on healing and not about her deductable. Thank you all for your prayers and words, she love to hear from everyone.