Nicoles Fight Against Brain Cancer
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My name is Maggie Bernard and I am currently an aspiring Nurse at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I am a sophomore in college and I have two older brothers, Maxwell Bernard and Lucas Bernard. Maxwell is 28 and works as an accountant for Prudential and Lucas is 22 and will be attending University of Illinois at Chicago next year for their Nursing program.
At the end of March, my mom went on vacation to celebrate her 50th birthday with my grandma. They went on a cruise to Mexico and my moms health suddenly began to decline. My mom is usually an extremely out-going person and loves the ocean more than anything. While on the cruise, my mom started to experience really intense pain in her back and the right side of her body causing her to be very slow and not able to get out of bed. Her speech began to slur and she was sleeping a lot so naturally my grandma was extremely concerned. My mom was very forgetful during this time and could not even find the energy to leave her bed while on the cruise. As soon as my mom and grandma got off the cruise, my mom came home to Illinois. Upon her arrival home, she was still in a lot of pain and sleeping a lot more than usual. On Sunday morning, April 2nd, my brother Lucas drove my mom to Centgra hospital in Mchenry. My mom was under the belief that she had a slipped disk in her back and that it was pushing down on nerves that were causing her to have the weird health behaviors. When the MRI came back clean for her back, we were all confused as to what could be happening. Thankfully, they ordered a CT scan and when that came back, we got the start of the frightening news. The CT scan showed a mass directly in the center of her brain about the size of a large lemon. Immediately, she was taken on an ambulance to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. That Tuesday, April 4th, was the day I turned twenty and the day my mom had a biopsy done to see what this mass in the center of her brain could be. My family and I hopefully waited for the biopsy to come back but when it did, we could not even believe what we were being told. On that Thursday, April 6th, my mom had been diagnosed with Stage Four Glioblastoma which is a very aggressive and malignant form of brain cancer. My family was absolutely devastated. All I could think was, "my mom will never see me graduate college. My mom will never see me get married". For those of you who know me, my mom is my asbolute rock and best friend. The doctor gave us three options: do nothing and she would pass away in within a month, do only radiation or have her undergo surgery then follow up with intense radiation and chemotherapy. We picked option three, because my mom is not ready to be done living her life. She is only 50 and has no grandbabies yet, she is ready to fight. For the next few days, my mom was pumped full of steriods, in hopes to reduce the swelling around the tumor before surgery, and pain medicine because what she was feeling was unbareable.
On the next Tuesday, April 11th, my mom underwent a very risky five hour surgery to safetly remove about 20% of the tumor. This surgery was terrifying because the doctor pre-warned my family and I ahead of time that there was a possibility my mom would not make it through the surgery or that if she did, she would never wake up. My whole family and I anxiously waited on the edge of our seats for these next five hours. When Dr. Bovis entered the room, I almost did not want to hear what he had to say. Thankfully, he came back with positive news. The surgery had went as planned and my mom was up in recovery but one small thing had gone wrong. My mom had dystrophy on the left side of her body. Her left arm and leg were extremely tense and she could not feel anything on that side. The doctors are hopeful that with a lot of physical therapy, she will regain some strength on the left side of her body.
Since the surgery on April 11th, my mom has been moved to an assisted living facility called Alden Estates of Barrington. Today, April 25th, she began her physical and cognitive therapy. This therapy will be intense and she will want to give up, but she has so many people standing behind her to support her. On Thursday, April 27th, my mom will begin radiation. This radiation will span for 5 weeks and it will be daily Monday-Friday. Anyone who has had a loved one go through radiation knows that this will be a very difficult time. She will become depressed and sick, but we will not give up on her. After radiation is over, she will start to take chemotherapy pills for several months and will have CT scans often to check and see if the tumor starts to grow back. This tumor she has is very aggressive and has a 99% chance to grow back even after we are done with all the treatments. As everyone can gather, the expenses will be astronimical from this. My mom stayed at Lutheran General for three weeks, she has had many ambulance rides(each ride is 500+ dollars) that are not covered by insurance, and is now living in an assisted living facility. Any amount, even a dollar would be so helpful to my family and extremely appreciated
On this Friday, April 18th, Phi Kappa Psi will be hosting an event called Breaking Barriers. This event is to help break all the gender stigmas, racial indifferences and so on. The sorority I am in, Phi Sigma Sigma, will be working with Phi Kappa Psi during this event and all the proceeds will be going towards my moms medical bills. This GoFundMe is mainly for the people who will not be able to make it to the event. This event will be held on The University of Illinois at Chicago East Campus and will have a DJ, hot dogs and a bake sale. The main attraction for this event will be an old beat down car that you can pay to smash up with a sledge hammer. What a perfect way to release all your anger, right??
My mom has three wonderful sisters, Sarah Sommers, Ginger Sommer and Brandy Curtis, that have dropped everything to help take care of their sister. My moms parents live in Texas and have since moved to Illinois to also help aid in the care for my mom. This is an extremely stressful time for my family and I, so we appreciate everyone for being so kind. All my mom wants is to be walking her beloved dog Ollie and gardening, therefore we are doing everything in our power to make this happen.
Heres a message from my brother Lucas:
"My mom is a fighter. I'm here to support her like she has my whole life, from enlisting as a medic in the US Army to becoming a registered Nurse. I love her with all my heart and I know she can overcome anything in her way."
At the end of March, my mom went on vacation to celebrate her 50th birthday with my grandma. They went on a cruise to Mexico and my moms health suddenly began to decline. My mom is usually an extremely out-going person and loves the ocean more than anything. While on the cruise, my mom started to experience really intense pain in her back and the right side of her body causing her to be very slow and not able to get out of bed. Her speech began to slur and she was sleeping a lot so naturally my grandma was extremely concerned. My mom was very forgetful during this time and could not even find the energy to leave her bed while on the cruise. As soon as my mom and grandma got off the cruise, my mom came home to Illinois. Upon her arrival home, she was still in a lot of pain and sleeping a lot more than usual. On Sunday morning, April 2nd, my brother Lucas drove my mom to Centgra hospital in Mchenry. My mom was under the belief that she had a slipped disk in her back and that it was pushing down on nerves that were causing her to have the weird health behaviors. When the MRI came back clean for her back, we were all confused as to what could be happening. Thankfully, they ordered a CT scan and when that came back, we got the start of the frightening news. The CT scan showed a mass directly in the center of her brain about the size of a large lemon. Immediately, she was taken on an ambulance to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. That Tuesday, April 4th, was the day I turned twenty and the day my mom had a biopsy done to see what this mass in the center of her brain could be. My family and I hopefully waited for the biopsy to come back but when it did, we could not even believe what we were being told. On that Thursday, April 6th, my mom had been diagnosed with Stage Four Glioblastoma which is a very aggressive and malignant form of brain cancer. My family was absolutely devastated. All I could think was, "my mom will never see me graduate college. My mom will never see me get married". For those of you who know me, my mom is my asbolute rock and best friend. The doctor gave us three options: do nothing and she would pass away in within a month, do only radiation or have her undergo surgery then follow up with intense radiation and chemotherapy. We picked option three, because my mom is not ready to be done living her life. She is only 50 and has no grandbabies yet, she is ready to fight. For the next few days, my mom was pumped full of steriods, in hopes to reduce the swelling around the tumor before surgery, and pain medicine because what she was feeling was unbareable.
On the next Tuesday, April 11th, my mom underwent a very risky five hour surgery to safetly remove about 20% of the tumor. This surgery was terrifying because the doctor pre-warned my family and I ahead of time that there was a possibility my mom would not make it through the surgery or that if she did, she would never wake up. My whole family and I anxiously waited on the edge of our seats for these next five hours. When Dr. Bovis entered the room, I almost did not want to hear what he had to say. Thankfully, he came back with positive news. The surgery had went as planned and my mom was up in recovery but one small thing had gone wrong. My mom had dystrophy on the left side of her body. Her left arm and leg were extremely tense and she could not feel anything on that side. The doctors are hopeful that with a lot of physical therapy, she will regain some strength on the left side of her body.
Since the surgery on April 11th, my mom has been moved to an assisted living facility called Alden Estates of Barrington. Today, April 25th, she began her physical and cognitive therapy. This therapy will be intense and she will want to give up, but she has so many people standing behind her to support her. On Thursday, April 27th, my mom will begin radiation. This radiation will span for 5 weeks and it will be daily Monday-Friday. Anyone who has had a loved one go through radiation knows that this will be a very difficult time. She will become depressed and sick, but we will not give up on her. After radiation is over, she will start to take chemotherapy pills for several months and will have CT scans often to check and see if the tumor starts to grow back. This tumor she has is very aggressive and has a 99% chance to grow back even after we are done with all the treatments. As everyone can gather, the expenses will be astronimical from this. My mom stayed at Lutheran General for three weeks, she has had many ambulance rides(each ride is 500+ dollars) that are not covered by insurance, and is now living in an assisted living facility. Any amount, even a dollar would be so helpful to my family and extremely appreciated
On this Friday, April 18th, Phi Kappa Psi will be hosting an event called Breaking Barriers. This event is to help break all the gender stigmas, racial indifferences and so on. The sorority I am in, Phi Sigma Sigma, will be working with Phi Kappa Psi during this event and all the proceeds will be going towards my moms medical bills. This GoFundMe is mainly for the people who will not be able to make it to the event. This event will be held on The University of Illinois at Chicago East Campus and will have a DJ, hot dogs and a bake sale. The main attraction for this event will be an old beat down car that you can pay to smash up with a sledge hammer. What a perfect way to release all your anger, right??
My mom has three wonderful sisters, Sarah Sommers, Ginger Sommer and Brandy Curtis, that have dropped everything to help take care of their sister. My moms parents live in Texas and have since moved to Illinois to also help aid in the care for my mom. This is an extremely stressful time for my family and I, so we appreciate everyone for being so kind. All my mom wants is to be walking her beloved dog Ollie and gardening, therefore we are doing everything in our power to make this happen.
Heres a message from my brother Lucas:
"My mom is a fighter. I'm here to support her like she has my whole life, from enlisting as a medic in the US Army to becoming a registered Nurse. I love her with all my heart and I know she can overcome anything in her way."
Organizer and beneficiary
Maggie Grace Bernard
Organizer
Chicago, IL
nicole bernard
Beneficiary
