Medical expenses
Donation protected
Thanks to all who donated; we were able to keep her at home with assistance until she went into a Hospice facility at the beginning of December and she passed on the Solstice morning, December 21st. There will be a Celebration of Life in Victoria on March 2nd from 1-4pm at the Church of Truth, 111 Superior St. If you can come, that would be great! If you need more information, just post a comment here or contact us via Facebook or email.
My mother just got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, which means that there isn't a real viable treatment option that will improve her quality of life. She was given 6 months to live another 2 if she opted for chemo. She is on palliative care instead as she wants to live out her last days staying as active as she can and blessing everyone that she knows with her wisdom, humor, and candor. She has great friends all around but they are all aging and unable to help with cooking and cleaning for her. I would like to either hire someone to come in once a week and clean and cook a small meal for her that she can eat over a couple of days, or someone that can just run errands, keep her little apt. clean and tidy and possibly walk with her everyday.
I live in California and am blocking out time to fly up and stay with her as much as possible, but I still have financial obligations at home etc., so I can't relocate for the whole time, so any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Update;
Kim was up last week to spend time with her mom and get things set up for a while. While there, they meal planned some things as Mare was having a hard time finding things to eat that tasted good. One of the benefits of everyone's generosity was that Kim started purchasing what Mare calls "REAL FOOD" - She has lived for so long on so little that she's used to getting by on value food items. Now she is enjoying eating again; simple foods, very small amounts, but tasty and she's discovered the benefits of desserts!
Kim hired someone to come in and do some house cleaning and personal care as Mare spends most of the day in bed. Because of pain she isn't able to sit, stand or walk for any prolonged periods.
With help she is now starting to get thank-you cards out to all her friends that have been donating, or just re-connecting with her after many years.
Pain management has been an ongoing issue for Mare, she is on a Fentanyl patch and Morphone pills as needed. Doctors have been increasing the patch strength trying to cut down on her reliance on the Morphone. Just the other day she found a sweet spot and reported that she was "pain free" for a time.
She is in good spirits, and is feeling extremely blessed which brings on more tears in the last few weeks than I think she's experienced in the past few decades.
Her greatest joy is hearing from friends that she has lost touch with and just found out tonight that two from back east are coming out to visit her in December. She is (as are we) overwhelmed with the generous responses she has gotten from this GoFundMe campaign. It has given her peace of mind and the ability to pay people to help her in this time of need instead of having to impose on friends or rely on strangers. It has helped Kim to be able to hire care-givers as she can't be there as much as she would like.
When we set up the GoFundMe, we opted for the automatic $1000 goal as we had no real goal in mind, other than establishing a fund to help get her what she needed. It's surprising to me all the costs that are incurred even in a country with 'free health care' and it has been really great for Kim and her mom to not have money be another worry at this time. Everyone has been extremely generous and a big THANK YOU to all of you, Mare has asked that if there is any excess in the fund that it be donated to a Cancer Charity so we're looking into that.
Kim is planning a trip back up in December to spend some more time with her - hopefully more 'leisure time' and less 'lawyer time' now that most of the paperwork is in place.....
Please continue to keep her in your thoughts, but better than that - give her a call or a visit. She's got a tiny apartment, but a huge heart!
My mother just got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, which means that there isn't a real viable treatment option that will improve her quality of life. She was given 6 months to live another 2 if she opted for chemo. She is on palliative care instead as she wants to live out her last days staying as active as she can and blessing everyone that she knows with her wisdom, humor, and candor. She has great friends all around but they are all aging and unable to help with cooking and cleaning for her. I would like to either hire someone to come in once a week and clean and cook a small meal for her that she can eat over a couple of days, or someone that can just run errands, keep her little apt. clean and tidy and possibly walk with her everyday.
I live in California and am blocking out time to fly up and stay with her as much as possible, but I still have financial obligations at home etc., so I can't relocate for the whole time, so any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Update;
Kim was up last week to spend time with her mom and get things set up for a while. While there, they meal planned some things as Mare was having a hard time finding things to eat that tasted good. One of the benefits of everyone's generosity was that Kim started purchasing what Mare calls "REAL FOOD" - She has lived for so long on so little that she's used to getting by on value food items. Now she is enjoying eating again; simple foods, very small amounts, but tasty and she's discovered the benefits of desserts!
Kim hired someone to come in and do some house cleaning and personal care as Mare spends most of the day in bed. Because of pain she isn't able to sit, stand or walk for any prolonged periods.
With help she is now starting to get thank-you cards out to all her friends that have been donating, or just re-connecting with her after many years.
Pain management has been an ongoing issue for Mare, she is on a Fentanyl patch and Morphone pills as needed. Doctors have been increasing the patch strength trying to cut down on her reliance on the Morphone. Just the other day she found a sweet spot and reported that she was "pain free" for a time.
She is in good spirits, and is feeling extremely blessed which brings on more tears in the last few weeks than I think she's experienced in the past few decades.
Her greatest joy is hearing from friends that she has lost touch with and just found out tonight that two from back east are coming out to visit her in December. She is (as are we) overwhelmed with the generous responses she has gotten from this GoFundMe campaign. It has given her peace of mind and the ability to pay people to help her in this time of need instead of having to impose on friends or rely on strangers. It has helped Kim to be able to hire care-givers as she can't be there as much as she would like.
When we set up the GoFundMe, we opted for the automatic $1000 goal as we had no real goal in mind, other than establishing a fund to help get her what she needed. It's surprising to me all the costs that are incurred even in a country with 'free health care' and it has been really great for Kim and her mom to not have money be another worry at this time. Everyone has been extremely generous and a big THANK YOU to all of you, Mare has asked that if there is any excess in the fund that it be donated to a Cancer Charity so we're looking into that.
Kim is planning a trip back up in December to spend some more time with her - hopefully more 'leisure time' and less 'lawyer time' now that most of the paperwork is in place.....
Please continue to keep her in your thoughts, but better than that - give her a call or a visit. She's got a tiny apartment, but a huge heart!
Organizer
Kim Lane Pheil
Organizer
Westwood, CA
