My mom has been fighting the hardest battle of her life, and our family is finally at a point where we need to ask for help.

Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In March, she underwent surgery to remove it. What should have been the start of healing turned into months of pain, complications, and uncertainty. She experienced severe swelling, redness, and nerve damage in her right arm - symptoms no one could explain. After countless specialists, medications, and rounds of antibiotics, she was finally diagnosed with lymphedema, a permanent condition caused by how the surgery was done. This means she will need physical therapy for the rest of her life.

Because of these complications, her radiation and chemo had to be delayed. When her body was finally stable enough, she began chemotherapy in late October. Her score came back just two points higher than the threshold - meaning chemo was strongly recommended. This type of chemo causes hair loss after just one treatment.

My mom received her first treatment the week of Halloween. Two days later, on Halloween night, she was in excruciating pain and had to be rushed to the ER. She ended up staying there for two days as doctors tried to understand what was happening. They found diverticulitis with a small intestinal leak, along with a nodule on her thyroid that also needs to be removed. And all of this was happening while chemo had completely wiped out her immune system - her white blood cell count was basically zero.

Doctors tried to manage the infection with antibiotics, but the next morning everything changed. Her colon ruptured. She needed emergency surgery immediately. It was truly life or death. The doctors warned us she likely wouldn’t survive the operation due to having just had chemo and having no immunity to fight infection.

I rushed to the hospital to tell her I loved her—possibly for the last time.

What followed was an eight-hour emergency surgery, one of the hardest surgeries her doctor said he has ever performed. Because it happened late at night, there was no one available to administer nerve blockers, and she woke up in the worst pain of her life. Even morphine every eight minutes couldn’t touch her pain. She needed five blood transfusions. And as if that wasn’t enough, she was losing her hair in handfuls, so an angel of a mobile hairdresser came to the hospital to shave her head with love and compassion.

My mom has now been in the hospital for 25 days. Every day brings a new complication. She still has tubes down her throat, is unable to eat, continues to receive blood transfusions, and is fighting to get her white blood cell count back up. She is exhausted, hurting, overwhelmed - but she is still fighting.

And now, as her daughter, this is the moment I never wanted to reach, but I know it’s time.

My mom is on leave from work and facing a long road ahead - more surgeries, physical therapy for life, chemo when she is stable enough to resume it, and an overwhelming amount of medical bills. On top of that, she still has her normal day-to-day expenses.

If you find it in your heart to donate, our family would be deeply grateful. Every single dollar helps. And if you’re not able to donate, please keep her in your prayers, send positive thoughts, or share her story.

My mom is a fighter. She is strong, brave, and pushing through the unimaginable. We believe she will get through this - but she shouldn’t have to carry the financial burden of surviving.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. ❤️