Help My Mom Fight Cancer

Only a couple of weeks after my birthday, at the end of October, my mom was diagnosed with stage III Oral Cancer. Time after that moment moved both incredibly fast and enduringly slow for our family. By December 9th, on my brother’s birthday, my mom received a life altering surgery to remove the cancer from her tongue. It involved dissecting 60 lymph nodes from her neck and a graft, taking skin from her left leg and skin with blood vessels from her left arm. This surgery was incredibly invasive for her, but also a beautiful blessing because it gave my mom options. She is now learning to speak and eat again. Her arm is gaining strength and the skin is beginning to heal. The skin on her leg also no longer tears every time she walks downstairs. But just as soon as my mom’s body has begun to heal, it is almost time for her to receive even more treatment. On January 25th she will begin radiation.

The time since her diagnoses in October has already been financially straining on our family. My parents made weekly trips from Illinois to Iowa for all of her appointments. I flew home from MA to help my mom in her healing and take on some of the care. COVID-19 has only added to the strain, since I needed to take off work just to quarantine before leaving and after arriving, in order to lessen the risk of my mom contracting it. My dad wasn’t allowed to stay with my mom for the 10 days she was in the hospital. He had to rent a hotel room each night, just to have 2 hours of visiting time with her each day. Their anniversary, on Dec 23rd, and the holidays passed by as my mom began her agonizing recovery from home. Beyond their travels, there has been the cost of medical supplies, liquid food, appointment fees, and lost wages. In this time, between her surgery and radiation, I had to fly back to MA to work, and am now preparing to fly home again to be there with my mom through her radiation. My dad and I have both used up all of our sick and vacation time.

The next six weeks will bring even more unforeseen costs for our family. My mom will be receiving radiation 5 days a week, which means we won’t be able to drive back and forth. We will have to rent a house in Iowa since the hospital is no longer offering housing due to the pandemic.

Hearing you or someone you love has been diagnosed with cancer is never easy. Going through it during a pandemic has been unfathomable. I know this past year has led to financial struggles for everyone, but if there is any way you are able to help, my family will be incredibly grateful. My mom is our family stone. I wish I could take all of this from her, but since I am unable to, I know helping with finances would be a beautiful gift to present her with on her birthday, February 4th.