Holly Pinkston

Hi, my name is Holly, and I want to tell you about one of the strongest woman I know... my mom Solanda. She's a single mom who raised four children completely on her own, without help from her family or her ex-husband. She never complained and poured everything she had into us. She taught us that in life, you need to work hard to earn what you need. She sacrificed her youth to raise me and my brothers. She led by example every single day. Her dedication paid off in the most beautiful way. Later, I got married and gave birth to six grandchildren who absolutely adore her, and she loves them with her whole heart. In 2021, we (my growing family and my mom) made a bold decided to move to the northwest and build a home from the ground up, for ourselves. I would build mine first while she went back and forth between me and my brothers (southeast). We understood it would be a challenge, and we would pay out of pocket, one step at a time. It was a challenge we were willing to face together. Once I got my house done, I would help build her house, but life had other plans. I noticed that my mom wasn't moving or acting normal, and even losing a lot of weight. I took her to go see a doctor... In November of 2024 my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. Doctors did warned us that the treatment will cause permanent damage to her kidney and colon. She would be in pain and on heavy medications for the rest of her life if she makes it. She doesn't have life insurance, and we tried to get her health insurance from Medicaid and Medicare, but both insurance companies denied her coverage because she doesn't have properties for them to collect after her death, and she isn't old enough. To protect us from financial burden my mom made a heartbreaking decision to forgo any aggressive treatment. We all prayed that her doing things naturally, would give her more time. She can't eat processed food because it causes her serious pain due to her not being able to digest it. Which means every single meal must be carefully prepared at home from scratch, so nothing store-bought will do. I am a stay-at-home mom and have taken the role of being my mom's full-time caregiver all while raising my own family. For a while, she was doing great. I got her gaining weight, and she started moving correctly again. So she asked to go visit my brothers and stay with them for a year since it is too cold for her where I live, as we are still building (off-grid). I told her not to go many times, but she missed them, so I agreed. After 7 months of her being there, I noticed she was sounding like she was in pain again. She finally admitted it after trying to hide it from all of us. My brothers work full-time, so they couldn't tell something was wrong or different because my mom is very good at hiding her pain. My brothers and I agreed it was better for her to come back to me. When my mom came back, right away I knew something was wrong and saw the change. She went back to square one, but this time she looked a lot worse. I got her another appointment with the doctors, and in April of 2026, we found out that things have gotten worse for my mom, and the doctor believes that she only has a few weeks to maybe two months to live. Honestly, this is something that we aren't truly prepared for. I always believed that she would beat it and pass away at an old age, not now at 60 years old. We aren't ready for her to go and financially not ready for a funeral and burial. My mom's wish is to be buried at my property, not cremated. I would like some help to make her final wish come true. I know a lot of people will ask why I didn't start this sooner, but honestly, I was in denial, praying that she would survive this. Now that I am doing this, it is real, and I hate to admit that I will soon be losing my mom. The reason I am asking for this amount is because I wasn’t aware of the land survey requirements and legalities of someone being buried on my own property. So please don't be harsh. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any contribution, no matter how small, will go directly toward my mom’s care, special dietary needs, and when the time comes towards her burial.