Help Kathy Fight Cancer
Donation protected
Kathy Poehler (my mom) is one of the most stubborn and hard working people you will ever meet in your life. Raising 5 kids (Elizabeth (28), Patrick (27), Jessica (25), DJ (23) and Ray (19)) requires that. It's unusual to hear of her having a day off, or not working two jobs to keep things afloat in the hectic life we've had. In the 27 years I've been alive, I think she is also only been to the doctor for injury or illness twice. She has focused mainly on caring for her children and taking them in when they needed it.
In addition to working as much as she has, she has had many hardships. In the fall of 2016, my mom and stepdad were evicted from the house they had rented. No matter what they did, they couldn't make enough money to hold onto it. The old landlord had to sell it suddenly when her spouse passed away. Despite clearing the issues with the landlord, they still had a black spot on their renter history. This meant that they had to spend the next 11 months homeless, going from motel to motel and even sleeping in their car during the warmer summer months in parking lots near work. Finally, at the end of 2017, they were able to move into a small 2 bedroom apartment. Sadly, one final thing happened. The storage unit that held many of their possessions was sold at auction. With most of their possessions gone, they were forced to let go of their past and start new.
In the summer of 2018, my mom started having terrible symptoms. She's never been unfamiliar to pain, but things got worse and worse until she finally went to the hospital. It was right before Thanksgiving 2018. She was unable to hide from the symptoms anymore. The diagnosis was worse than we could have imagined... cancer. The next few weeks flew by so quickly, yet also seemed to move past us in slow motion. Scan after scan, needle after needle, they tried to diagnose what it exactly was. All symptoms pointed towards Stage IV Uterine Cancer, so a hysterectomy was performed and chemotherapy was started.
Then the test results came back ... and we learned that it was actually a scarier diagnosis, Stage IV Lung Cancer. Between all of the scans we learned that it had spread to her Uterus, Liver, Lymph Nodes, Brain, Intestines and Omentum. We switched doctors a couple times, and prepared for an even more difficult fight. The doctor also gave us the harshest news we had received so far. On average patients who receive treatment for this cancer live for around two years. This new diagnosis shook and destroyed us to our core as our family tried to understand what was going on and what was going to happen.
Between chemotherapy every few weeks and the radiation she received for the cancer in her brain, my mom has been unable to work. She tries to spend what time she has in the day distracting herself, talking to friends and family, and resting as the treatment has really worn her down. But going from working 40+ hours a week down to 0 has been unnerving for her. While we have yet to receive hospital bills, and hopefully insurance will cover most if not all of it, the rest of bills and life keep on moving. Even when they were both working, my step dad and mom could just barely make ends meet Assistance has not kicked in yet, despite them filling out the forms months ago.
Because of all this, I was finally able to convince my mom, who as you can tell by now, is fairly stubborn, to reach out to our friends and family and the rest of the world, for help. Without help, I'm not sure how my family will be able to pay all the bills needed to make sure my mom can focus on getting as healthy as she can without worrying about what time she has left.
Finally, I just want to let my mom try to see the things that she never has gotten to see. Having her first kid when she was just 17 years old meant that she never really got a chance to live, to see the beauties that the world has to offer. She wants to visit friends one last time, people she hasn't gotten to see in decades. Or go to Disney World and relive the wonders she once did when she was a child. Go to Duluth and stand on the shores of Lake Superior, looking out at the beauty around her. There is so much she sacrificed having kids, and now that her youngest is finally an adult, she’s been given a timer on how much she gets to live despite only being 48 years old.
Please help my mom fight this terrible disease by sharing your stories, words of encouragement, ideas for places she should try to see in this world, and if you are able to, donate to help us make ends meet and let her enjoy the time she has left, not worrying about what comes after.
Thank you.
In addition to working as much as she has, she has had many hardships. In the fall of 2016, my mom and stepdad were evicted from the house they had rented. No matter what they did, they couldn't make enough money to hold onto it. The old landlord had to sell it suddenly when her spouse passed away. Despite clearing the issues with the landlord, they still had a black spot on their renter history. This meant that they had to spend the next 11 months homeless, going from motel to motel and even sleeping in their car during the warmer summer months in parking lots near work. Finally, at the end of 2017, they were able to move into a small 2 bedroom apartment. Sadly, one final thing happened. The storage unit that held many of their possessions was sold at auction. With most of their possessions gone, they were forced to let go of their past and start new.
In the summer of 2018, my mom started having terrible symptoms. She's never been unfamiliar to pain, but things got worse and worse until she finally went to the hospital. It was right before Thanksgiving 2018. She was unable to hide from the symptoms anymore. The diagnosis was worse than we could have imagined... cancer. The next few weeks flew by so quickly, yet also seemed to move past us in slow motion. Scan after scan, needle after needle, they tried to diagnose what it exactly was. All symptoms pointed towards Stage IV Uterine Cancer, so a hysterectomy was performed and chemotherapy was started.
Then the test results came back ... and we learned that it was actually a scarier diagnosis, Stage IV Lung Cancer. Between all of the scans we learned that it had spread to her Uterus, Liver, Lymph Nodes, Brain, Intestines and Omentum. We switched doctors a couple times, and prepared for an even more difficult fight. The doctor also gave us the harshest news we had received so far. On average patients who receive treatment for this cancer live for around two years. This new diagnosis shook and destroyed us to our core as our family tried to understand what was going on and what was going to happen.
Between chemotherapy every few weeks and the radiation she received for the cancer in her brain, my mom has been unable to work. She tries to spend what time she has in the day distracting herself, talking to friends and family, and resting as the treatment has really worn her down. But going from working 40+ hours a week down to 0 has been unnerving for her. While we have yet to receive hospital bills, and hopefully insurance will cover most if not all of it, the rest of bills and life keep on moving. Even when they were both working, my step dad and mom could just barely make ends meet Assistance has not kicked in yet, despite them filling out the forms months ago.
Because of all this, I was finally able to convince my mom, who as you can tell by now, is fairly stubborn, to reach out to our friends and family and the rest of the world, for help. Without help, I'm not sure how my family will be able to pay all the bills needed to make sure my mom can focus on getting as healthy as she can without worrying about what time she has left.
Finally, I just want to let my mom try to see the things that she never has gotten to see. Having her first kid when she was just 17 years old meant that she never really got a chance to live, to see the beauties that the world has to offer. She wants to visit friends one last time, people she hasn't gotten to see in decades. Or go to Disney World and relive the wonders she once did when she was a child. Go to Duluth and stand on the shores of Lake Superior, looking out at the beauty around her. There is so much she sacrificed having kids, and now that her youngest is finally an adult, she’s been given a timer on how much she gets to live despite only being 48 years old.
Please help my mom fight this terrible disease by sharing your stories, words of encouragement, ideas for places she should try to see in this world, and if you are able to, donate to help us make ends meet and let her enjoy the time she has left, not worrying about what comes after.
Thank you.
Organizer
Patrick Carlson
Organizer
St. Paul, MN