Tiffany's Cancer Fund
Donation protected
Hello, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read our story.
My name is Tanya Luc, and my mother Tiffany has recently been diagnosed with Stage III Ovarian Cancer.
OUR STORY
About one month ago, my mother began experiencing shortness of breath and some distension in her abdominal region. She had been expressing some discomfort and pain for a while, but none of us suspected the true magnitude of her symptoms. At first, her doctor suspected that she had some irritation in her bowels and scheduled an x-ray of her abdominal area. When the scan revealed some fluid build-up, we then scheduled an ultrasound to further investigate what was going on. However, my mother’s distension suddenly worsened and her abdomen swelled at an alarming rate (over the course of a single week), becoming so enlarged to the point that she began to look as if she were pregnant. When the doctors performed an ultrasound, they discovered a mass on my mother’s pelvic area, and a follow-up CT scan the next day confirmed the doctor’s—and my own—fears: that there were two large masses on my mother’s ovaries, their sizes ranging from 13-16 cm each, and that they were serious enough that she required immediate surgery to remove them.
When I heard the news, I was actually nowhere near our home in San Gabriel, California. Instead, I was a whole state away in Glendale, Arizona, where I attend the College of Pharmacy at Midwestern University. I cannot begin to even describe the overwhelming panic that I felt as I realized that my mother’s medical situation may be much more serious than anyone had previously thought it to be. That day, I booked a last-minute plane ticket and flew straight home to accompany my mother to the emergency room at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, California. After the emergency department ran some tests and contacted her surgeon, she was admitted into the hospital where they began prepping her for her surgery.
During the surgery, the doctors determined that the mass, which had spread to my mother’s abdominal area, was indeed Ovarian Cancer. A series of biopsies and blood tests later revealed that the cancer is in a fairly advanced stage (Stage IIIC) and even now, as I watch my mother successfully recover from her surgery—slowly decreasing her daily dosage of pain medication, getting on her feet and practicing walking again, and coming back to our home—I know that the fight for her life has only begun.
For my whole life, I have watched my mother single-handedly fight to raise my younger brother and myself. I have seen her work down to her very bones to pay the unending pile of bills and the mortgage on the house, to raise her kids with to be kind, with good values and principles, and to keep her family afloat despite every hardship and difficulty she has had to face on her own. I have seen my mother suffer enough for a lifetime.
However, my family’s struggle has only begun, for not only will we now have to find a way to pay for the medical bills that will soon be coming our way, but also cope with paying the bills that we already have. The money that we raise with your help will go towards my mother’s treatment, as she will begin to undergo a series of six chemotherapy sessions in an effort to beat this cancer. Although our insurance will help pay much of the cost of treatment (about $150,000 total, ranging from $6,000-$10,000 per cycle of chemotherapy), we may need to cover the cost of some medical bills ourselves. Furthermore, any funds we will receive will help my family get by day-to-day, as my mother may no longer be able to work during this long and difficult process and our family will lose our only regular source of income. As I am in Arizona and there is only my younger brother (Casey), a second-year full-time college student already juggling two part-time jobs, to help my mother at home, any financial contribution that we receive will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my mother’s story, and for the kindness you show to my family as you support us in my mother’s battle against ovarian cancer. The process ahead will be long and difficult, and will require my mother’s utmost physical, mental, and emotional endurance, but with your help, I have the utmost confidence that she will pull through.
Gratefully yours,
Tanya & Casey Luc
Below are pictures of my mother during her stay at the hospital.
My family members took this picture of my mom while waiting for the nurses to take her into surgery.
She was in very good spirits before going in to surgery. At this point, everyone was hoping and praying that her tumor was benign.
My brother was there right by her side when she woke up. Unfortunately, I was back in Arizona due to exams. I came home the very next day.
She was slowly, but surely regaining her strength to move around and walk again.
After 2 long weeks of being in the hospital, she was finally discharged!
My name is Tanya Luc, and my mother Tiffany has recently been diagnosed with Stage III Ovarian Cancer.
OUR STORY
About one month ago, my mother began experiencing shortness of breath and some distension in her abdominal region. She had been expressing some discomfort and pain for a while, but none of us suspected the true magnitude of her symptoms. At first, her doctor suspected that she had some irritation in her bowels and scheduled an x-ray of her abdominal area. When the scan revealed some fluid build-up, we then scheduled an ultrasound to further investigate what was going on. However, my mother’s distension suddenly worsened and her abdomen swelled at an alarming rate (over the course of a single week), becoming so enlarged to the point that she began to look as if she were pregnant. When the doctors performed an ultrasound, they discovered a mass on my mother’s pelvic area, and a follow-up CT scan the next day confirmed the doctor’s—and my own—fears: that there were two large masses on my mother’s ovaries, their sizes ranging from 13-16 cm each, and that they were serious enough that she required immediate surgery to remove them.
When I heard the news, I was actually nowhere near our home in San Gabriel, California. Instead, I was a whole state away in Glendale, Arizona, where I attend the College of Pharmacy at Midwestern University. I cannot begin to even describe the overwhelming panic that I felt as I realized that my mother’s medical situation may be much more serious than anyone had previously thought it to be. That day, I booked a last-minute plane ticket and flew straight home to accompany my mother to the emergency room at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, California. After the emergency department ran some tests and contacted her surgeon, she was admitted into the hospital where they began prepping her for her surgery.
During the surgery, the doctors determined that the mass, which had spread to my mother’s abdominal area, was indeed Ovarian Cancer. A series of biopsies and blood tests later revealed that the cancer is in a fairly advanced stage (Stage IIIC) and even now, as I watch my mother successfully recover from her surgery—slowly decreasing her daily dosage of pain medication, getting on her feet and practicing walking again, and coming back to our home—I know that the fight for her life has only begun.
For my whole life, I have watched my mother single-handedly fight to raise my younger brother and myself. I have seen her work down to her very bones to pay the unending pile of bills and the mortgage on the house, to raise her kids with to be kind, with good values and principles, and to keep her family afloat despite every hardship and difficulty she has had to face on her own. I have seen my mother suffer enough for a lifetime.
However, my family’s struggle has only begun, for not only will we now have to find a way to pay for the medical bills that will soon be coming our way, but also cope with paying the bills that we already have. The money that we raise with your help will go towards my mother’s treatment, as she will begin to undergo a series of six chemotherapy sessions in an effort to beat this cancer. Although our insurance will help pay much of the cost of treatment (about $150,000 total, ranging from $6,000-$10,000 per cycle of chemotherapy), we may need to cover the cost of some medical bills ourselves. Furthermore, any funds we will receive will help my family get by day-to-day, as my mother may no longer be able to work during this long and difficult process and our family will lose our only regular source of income. As I am in Arizona and there is only my younger brother (Casey), a second-year full-time college student already juggling two part-time jobs, to help my mother at home, any financial contribution that we receive will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my mother’s story, and for the kindness you show to my family as you support us in my mother’s battle against ovarian cancer. The process ahead will be long and difficult, and will require my mother’s utmost physical, mental, and emotional endurance, but with your help, I have the utmost confidence that she will pull through.
Gratefully yours,
Tanya & Casey Luc
Below are pictures of my mother during her stay at the hospital.
My family members took this picture of my mom while waiting for the nurses to take her into surgery.
She was in very good spirits before going in to surgery. At this point, everyone was hoping and praying that her tumor was benign.
My brother was there right by her side when she woke up. Unfortunately, I was back in Arizona due to exams. I came home the very next day.
She was slowly, but surely regaining her strength to move around and walk again.
After 2 long weeks of being in the hospital, she was finally discharged!
Organizer and beneficiary
Tanya Luc
Organizer
San Gabriel, CA
Tiffany Lieu
Beneficiary