Help a Mother with 4 Kids Fight Cancer (updated)
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Help a Mother with 4 Young Kids Fight Cancer
Life was totally normal. And then it wasn’t.
Wendi has been diagnosed with Stage IV Cervical Cancer that has spread throughout her liver, lungs and lymph nodes. They are very private people so putting this out there and asking for help has been put off as long as possible. Their life and the current situation of her cancer is hard enough to navigate without the constant financial pressure. As you can imagine they are working on how to navigate the future and how to spend the precious time as a family and with the kids.
I wanted to share not only her current diagnosis but also just about how wonderful she is so you can meet her and understand how devastating this for our family. Wendi was a very active 38-year-old woman. She has to be with four children, ages 12, 9, 6, and 2. Wendi operates her own hair salon and travels to many of her clients’ homes to do their hair. In addition to her day job, she is the keeper of her family and all of the chaos that comes with pre-teen girls in cheer, school projects, after-school activities, bedtime routines and everything in between.
In October of 2018, Wendi had some spotting. Not really anything alarming; many women experience irregular bleeding. She went to the doctor for a checkup to discuss the source of the bleeding and to see if there were ways to prevent it from happening going forward. At first, there was talk of just using birth control to regulate her menstrual cycle but the bleeding only got heavier. After more testing and several months of back and forth to doctor appointments and uncertainty as to why she continued to bleed, in February 2019, she received the news that no one should have to get.; she had Stage IV cervical cancer. The only good news at the time was that it looked like cancer had not spread.
The doctors formed a plan to start radiation and chemotherapy. For five weeks Wendi went to the hospital to get her treatment. After five weeks of treatments, the doctor sent her to Johns Hopkins to receive brachytherapy. Wendi went for a PET scan to see how well the treatments were progressing and she learned that the tumor, even though it had indeed shrunk, it was pressing on her ureter and making it impossible for urine to drain from her kidney. The only option to help resolve this was the placement of a nephrostomy tube in her back so the kidney could properly drain. Perhaps more devastating, she also found out that the cancer has spread to her lungs, liver and lymph nodes and she also requires another nephrostomy tube for the other kidney. The doctors told Wendi that she must now receive a much more aggressive form of chemotherapy. Currently, she has received one treatment and the next is in two weeks. She has been in the emergency room almost weekly with issues. Wendi also recently spent over a week in the ICU because of unexpected complications (including blood clots) which have absolutely ravaged the organs of her young body.
As you can imagine, this entire situation has put a financial burden on Wendi and her husband John. She is currently unable to work and all the financial commitments fall to John. The extra trips to the hospital and medical bills are all starting to add up. Without Wendi working, they are stretched beyond their limit.
Life was totally normal. And then it wasn’t.
Wendi has been diagnosed with Stage IV Cervical Cancer that has spread throughout her liver, lungs and lymph nodes. They are very private people so putting this out there and asking for help has been put off as long as possible. Their life and the current situation of her cancer is hard enough to navigate without the constant financial pressure. As you can imagine they are working on how to navigate the future and how to spend the precious time as a family and with the kids.
I wanted to share not only her current diagnosis but also just about how wonderful she is so you can meet her and understand how devastating this for our family. Wendi was a very active 38-year-old woman. She has to be with four children, ages 12, 9, 6, and 2. Wendi operates her own hair salon and travels to many of her clients’ homes to do their hair. In addition to her day job, she is the keeper of her family and all of the chaos that comes with pre-teen girls in cheer, school projects, after-school activities, bedtime routines and everything in between.
In October of 2018, Wendi had some spotting. Not really anything alarming; many women experience irregular bleeding. She went to the doctor for a checkup to discuss the source of the bleeding and to see if there were ways to prevent it from happening going forward. At first, there was talk of just using birth control to regulate her menstrual cycle but the bleeding only got heavier. After more testing and several months of back and forth to doctor appointments and uncertainty as to why she continued to bleed, in February 2019, she received the news that no one should have to get.; she had Stage IV cervical cancer. The only good news at the time was that it looked like cancer had not spread.
The doctors formed a plan to start radiation and chemotherapy. For five weeks Wendi went to the hospital to get her treatment. After five weeks of treatments, the doctor sent her to Johns Hopkins to receive brachytherapy. Wendi went for a PET scan to see how well the treatments were progressing and she learned that the tumor, even though it had indeed shrunk, it was pressing on her ureter and making it impossible for urine to drain from her kidney. The only option to help resolve this was the placement of a nephrostomy tube in her back so the kidney could properly drain. Perhaps more devastating, she also found out that the cancer has spread to her lungs, liver and lymph nodes and she also requires another nephrostomy tube for the other kidney. The doctors told Wendi that she must now receive a much more aggressive form of chemotherapy. Currently, she has received one treatment and the next is in two weeks. She has been in the emergency room almost weekly with issues. Wendi also recently spent over a week in the ICU because of unexpected complications (including blood clots) which have absolutely ravaged the organs of her young body.
As you can imagine, this entire situation has put a financial burden on Wendi and her husband John. She is currently unable to work and all the financial commitments fall to John. The extra trips to the hospital and medical bills are all starting to add up. Without Wendi working, they are stretched beyond their limit.
Organizer and beneficiary
Carrie Oller
Organizer
Ashburn, VA
John Oller
Beneficiary
