We love Joan

On June 19, 2019, Joan went into the ER for some leg pain, which turned out to be a pulmonary embolism. While running tests and treating the embolism, doctors discovered a mass in her left lung. After more scans, Joan and her family received some devastating news: she was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. While the prognosis is poor, she has a specific “non-smoker” lung mutation that is currently being treated with a targeted therapy. The hope is that this will extend her life by another year or more. If you know Joan, you know she is fighting this with everything she has, and is traveling to MD Anderson in Houston for potential clinical trials for when the targeted therapy stops working.

Cancer treatment, even with good insurance, can be very costly. And we are hopeful that there will continue to be advances in treatment, which will provide Joan a better opportunity for an extended life. 

Joan agreed to let us set up this fund for her medical bills, as she doesn't want to leave her family saddled with debt from her treatments. Any funds received in excess will be donated to the American Cancer Society, specifically to help fund the Hope Lodge , which offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city.

You can follow Joan's journey on Caring Bridge .