Lizzy's Fight
Donation protected
Six months ago my husband, James, and I had just purchased our first home. We had also just finished planning the vacation of a lifetime, a cruise in Europe with my mom and 8 other family members. We were looking forward to celebrating my mom's 60th birthday, our first wedding anniversary, my cousin's 21st birthday, and another cousin's engagement and graduation on the vacation. We were looking forward to the spring time and for all of the exciting things that were ahead of us.
Once we closed on the house my mom spent all of her free time helping us clean (if you know my mom this means scrubbing every inch of the house), unpack, paint, and get settled in. A little over four months ago she started having some back pain, which she thought was from all of the moving and painting that she had been doing. After a few trips to the doctor we found out that she had a large mass on her left adrenal gland that would need to be removed. During the pre-operative procedures it was discovered that she also had a tumor on her left lung. A few stressful weeks and several scans later she is now facing Stage 4 Lung Cancer with metastases in the brain, spine, spleen, adrenal gland, kidney, liver, and bones. In a few short months I have watched this disease take its painful toll on the strongest most independent woman I know.
She has begun her treatment which includes a new treatment for cancer, Immunotherapy, as well as brain radiation. The Immunotherapy boosts your immune system, by essentially telling it to attack the cancer cells, more specifically PD-L1 cells. The higher the PD-L1 percentage, the better. We were very excited to find out her percentage is 90% which is well over the 50% cut-off! Unlike chemo, Immunotherapy does not have the major side-effects because it does not kill as many of the “good” cells.
We are beyond thankful that we were able to get financial assistance through Merk, the drug company that makes the immunotherapy to help pay for the treatment. However, she is still responsible for a large portion of the brain radiation treatment, CT scans, MRIs, and all of the other tests that go along with having cancer. Due to this illness she is also no longer able to work. If you know my mom then you know she has always put everyone else's needs before her own on so many levels. My goal is to be able to help off-set some of the financial burden of being sick so that her main focus can be on fighting this terrible disease and getting her life back.
We feel thankful, blessed, and excited that she is able to receive this alternative treatment. After 2 months of being on the treatement, we are happy to say that she has been doing extremely well and is even seeing shrinking of the tumors which is getting rid of the pain. She is excited to continue the treatment and begin her journey to recovery and hopefully remission.
Once we closed on the house my mom spent all of her free time helping us clean (if you know my mom this means scrubbing every inch of the house), unpack, paint, and get settled in. A little over four months ago she started having some back pain, which she thought was from all of the moving and painting that she had been doing. After a few trips to the doctor we found out that she had a large mass on her left adrenal gland that would need to be removed. During the pre-operative procedures it was discovered that she also had a tumor on her left lung. A few stressful weeks and several scans later she is now facing Stage 4 Lung Cancer with metastases in the brain, spine, spleen, adrenal gland, kidney, liver, and bones. In a few short months I have watched this disease take its painful toll on the strongest most independent woman I know.
She has begun her treatment which includes a new treatment for cancer, Immunotherapy, as well as brain radiation. The Immunotherapy boosts your immune system, by essentially telling it to attack the cancer cells, more specifically PD-L1 cells. The higher the PD-L1 percentage, the better. We were very excited to find out her percentage is 90% which is well over the 50% cut-off! Unlike chemo, Immunotherapy does not have the major side-effects because it does not kill as many of the “good” cells.
We are beyond thankful that we were able to get financial assistance through Merk, the drug company that makes the immunotherapy to help pay for the treatment. However, she is still responsible for a large portion of the brain radiation treatment, CT scans, MRIs, and all of the other tests that go along with having cancer. Due to this illness she is also no longer able to work. If you know my mom then you know she has always put everyone else's needs before her own on so many levels. My goal is to be able to help off-set some of the financial burden of being sick so that her main focus can be on fighting this terrible disease and getting her life back.
We feel thankful, blessed, and excited that she is able to receive this alternative treatment. After 2 months of being on the treatement, we are happy to say that she has been doing extremely well and is even seeing shrinking of the tumors which is getting rid of the pain. She is excited to continue the treatment and begin her journey to recovery and hopefully remission.
Organizer
Lisa Santa Maria
Organizer
Scotch Plains, NJ
