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Seeking help for a 'medical zebra'

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Joyce is my friend and after months of hearing about her situation, I asked her if I could make a gofundme campaign on her behalf.  In medicine, we are taught "when you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras"  which translates into Use common sense and look for the expected cause first, rather than searching for something more exotic. But for Joyce, treating her case as a horse caused a six-month detour down the road of totally incorrect diagnoses and ineffective treatments.    Because Joyce is, in fact, a Zebra. It isn't antibiotics she needed, it's chemo and radiation.   Joyce has a fairly rare Vulvar cancer, and it was stage 4 by the time it was correctly diagnosed, located within a Bartholin's gland.  This was possibly caused by the HPV virus - there's an HPV vaccine for adolescents (so vaccinate your kids!) but there didn't used to be such a thing. So: Joyce started her cancer treatment just this month which is daily radiation and weekly chemo.  Her bills from the hospital are already $55,000 (pathology is $800, radiologist reading the PET scan $800, the blood drawn for labs is $275 weekly, and chemo is $1500 each week).  Her prescriptions are $360.  We don't even know the exact costs of her daily radiation treatments yet.  Plus, there will be another biopsy and PET scan in April to evaluate the progress of treatment And did I mention Joyce is not insured? Because affordable health care? Was not so much. She was approved for some financial assistance through the hospital, but 22% of at least $100k still leaves her with a huge Out of Pocket bill.  And depending on April's biopsy and PET scan results, she may need further treatment or surgery. She's been unable to continue to work as she had hoped, because of the side effects of treatment.  Her monthly living expenses are approximately $3500, so the immediate need is keeping the lights on while she's out of work this month. Any amount of help you provide with a donation here will go towards Joyce's living and medical expenses, and is so very appreciated.   Please help if you can!
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $50 
    • 4 yrs
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Fundraising team (2)

Jo-elle Bridges
Organizer
Greenville, SC
Joyce Hutchins
Beneficiary
Joyce Hutchins
Team member

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