Gail's Cancer Recovery

I'm starting this fund to help my mom, Gail (Rasmussen) (Nehmer) Sorrenti and her husband Joe.  My mom, for the third time in her life, is going through major medical problems.  The first of these occurred in April of 2000 when she took a terrible fall from the loft of her garage while trying to get her Easter decorations down.  The fall left her with a broken back, a bruised heart, a concussion and many other injuries and bruises.  She was hospitalized for 10 days with no insurance.  She was a manicurist, which is considered a self-employed position and could not afford insurance.  She was sent home with a back brace and many other devices to help her recover.  It was slow and steady, but she persevered and was back to her old self and to work in about six to eight weeks.  Although she has a profound love for dogs, it was then that I said she was a cat with nine lives.  She escaped that fall with very little lasting issues, when she could have been paralyzed or worse.

The second event happened in February of 2009, when she thought she had the stomach flu, but when she didn't get better after a few days she got scared and asked Joe to take her to the hospital.  This was very out of character for her.  She tends to think she can wait everything out, so Joe knew things must be bad.  He took her in right away and she quickly declined.  She was in septic shock and was admitted to the hospital immediately.  The infection settled in her pituitary gland and was causing her to have fluid build-up, dizziness, fever, nausea amongst other things.  Eventually, the determined that her pituitary gland had to be removed.  They did this through her nose because it is much less invasive than cutting into her skull.  This was successful at removing the gland, but caused her issues that continued through November that year.  Over those nine months, she had two brain surgeries where they actually opened her skull to patch the incision they made in her nose which kept leaking brain fluid after the first operation and several attempts to patch it through her nose.  She then had too much fluid on her brain, so the second brain surgery was to place a shunt from her brain to her abdomen for the access fluid to drain.  During those nine months, she spent the majority of her life in the neurological intensive care unit.  She nearly lost her life many times, she coded several times due to infections and her fluid levels on her brain.  During this time, she still did not have health insurance.  Her bills amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.  But, like the cat she is, she survived with but a few life long lasting effects.  She is on a bunch of new medications, she can't go through security at the airport, her head looks a bit like Frankenstein if she lifts her hair up and she can't tip her head upside down for any length of time.  When all was back to her new "normal" this cat was on her sixth life!

That brings us to now, 2016-2017.  In October, she went to her primary care doctor because she had a terrible pain in her back.  The doctor ordered at CT scan of her upper abdomen and it showed a suspicious mass in the upper lobe of her right lung.  After a biopsy, a couple of CT scans, an MRI, a PET CT and lots of blood work she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  It has spread to her lymph node, her upper spine, her pelvis and her lower spine.  She has begun Chemotherapy and Radiation.  She is about half way through her first round.  Although she is now old enough to be on Medicare, she is still being pounded with co-pays and deductibles.  Joe just had to turn down a sale of their house because he was worried that she wouldn't do well in a house she didn't know.  They are both retired now and on a very fixed income. 

Keep in mind, she still has three lives left and that is why she needs our help!  They are really struggling trying to keep up with all the medical expenses, prescriptions and every day bills.  Joe is doing a wonderful job of taking care of her, but they could really use our help!  She needs to get better and live out those last three lives!  The stress of money has been really difficult for her during this diagnosis.  She questions whether many of the tests are necessary because she doesn't know how they are going to pay the bills.  She is worried about the stress that Joe is going through worrying about her and how to keep up with all the incoming expenses her health is causing.

Please consider helping me to help them by relieving some of the financial burden they are under.  I know that everyone has their own issues and expenses, but if everyone gives a little, it will really help them a lot.  If you know someone else who would be willing to help, you can also help by spreading the word and sharing her story

My mom, Joe and the rest of our family would be so grateful for any help / support you are willing to offer.  Thank you so much, in advance, for whatever help you're willing to give.

Sincerely,

DeeDee (Nehmer) Slawny