Conquer Donna’s Cancer and Hailey’s Rare Tumor

On the night of July 29th, 2019, Donna Damitz fell ill. She was later taken by ambulance to Cottage Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois where we found out she had colitis, and had become septic due to a UTI. She was sent home for a while before having to be taken back to St. Mary’s in Galesburg. Donna had experienced trouble breathing since she had been home and we found out later that she had pneumonia. About a week later Donna was taken to Peoria to do a lung biopsy. From there we found out that she had Stage One lung cancer. Donna will have to have surgery on October 24th, 2019 and will be out of work without pay for three months. Donna Damitz has been employed at Carl Sandburg College as a Public Safety Officer for fourteen years, and during her hospital stays she had to use all of the sick days she had accumulated while working there, so that means she will have to go without pay for 3 months.

As for me, Hailey Damitz, this is where my journey began. Right when we found out that my Grandma Donna had lung cancer I started to experience blurry vision in my left eye. Of course with everything going on I didn’t think too much of it. I thought the blurry vision was due to the fact that I didn’t have my glasses. About a month passed and everyday it only got worse. I made and effort to move my eye appointment up to as soon as they could get me in because now I was getting worried. I had no vision left in my left eye. They referred me to the Neurological Institute of Illinois who called about four days later and told me to head to St. Mary’s in Galesburg for a spinal tap and MRI ASAP. St. Mary’s said there wasn’t anything they could do except give me a cat scan and send me to Peoria, which they did. After about a hour of waiting in Peoria the doctors told me I had a tumor on my optic nerve. I was shocked as was the rest of my family. From there I was sent home for a bit before being taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Here they officially diagnosed me with an Optic Nerve Sheath Meningioma. Only about 2-4% of children my age (15 years old) get these. As a result I will have to start radiation for 6-8 weeks at the proton radiation center in Warrenville, Illinois. All of this will take quite a toll on the family. My parents only have one car which will have to stay in Galesburg while my mom and I are in Warrenville  because my grandma will be having surgery in Peoria. As a result we will have to take the Amtrak every weekend to get to and from Warrenville, which is around two and a half hours from home (Galesburg, Illinois). My grandma will be without pay for three months, plus she’ll have to pay monthly for insurance. My family isn’t the type to ask for money, but right now we need all the help and support we can get. Thank you in advance for your donations, and if you can’t donate please share to spread the word!