Wheels For Tori

Update 6/5/2020: goal updated to cover electric wheelchair AND still donate 50% to the cancer hospital................................................. Hello! I am a 22 year old hobbyist artist living in north Texas. Please take a moment to read my story and learn why this wheelchair will mean so much to me. In june of 2018 I went to the doctor to discuss a hard lump in my right hand. After several scans and a biopsy by my wonderful orthopaedic surgeon I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. This form of bone cancer is very aggressive and in turn I underwent a year of aggressive chemotherapy in an attempt to shrink my tumour. I suffered extreme nausea and had many hospital visits ranging from a few days to a few weeks, but we had finally succeeded! In May of 2019 my orthopaedic surgeon once again did an amazing job in the partial amputation of my hand to remove the remaining cancer tissue. After several weeks of healing and recovery I underwent another few rounds of chemotherapy to be sure I was cancer free, and was officially in remission after a CT and PET scan! However, to my shock I discovered a hard lump in my breast tissue only a few months later. A rushed visit to my general physician and she got me into the hospital next door the next week to get a mammogram and breast ultrasound. The amazing doctor and nurses there were able to perform a biopsy the same day, and a week later we had the results. This was indeed the same cancer as before. My oncologist immediately ordered another CT and PET which revealed the cancer had suddenly spread to many places of my body including my lungs, neck, breast, upper arms, and legs. I was pronounced to be stage 4, terminal, and given a prognosis of ten years maximum. Despite continuing chemotherapy the cancer has spread to a few more areas, including a tumour at the top of each hip, one in my left pelvis, and one in my ribs. Most of the small spots and my lungs have greatly improved and are nearly gone thanks to continued chemotherapy and occasional radiation therapy, however the tumours in my hips and pelvis continue to cause concern. The spots do not respond well to chemotherapy if we are forced to stop for any period of time. (My previous regiment needed to be stopped if my white blood cell count got low, or if we needed to do radiation.) And so I often find myself either struggling to walk or completely bedridden due to lack of mobility devices. My insurance absolutely refuses to cover the cost of even a low end wheelchair, leaving me in a situation where my family needs to carry me to the car in order to get to and from doctors appointments thirty minutes away in Dallas, and where I am unable to go out and enjoy myself or see my friends. I have set the fundraiser goal to cover a low end wheelchair so that I may once again be able to move around the house and see the friends that have helped me through these years of suffering. Any donation helps immensely, and even those who simply share this fundraiser are greatly appreciated! My family has hit rough times with medical bills from all three of us, and this wheelchair will mean so much to us so that my parents don't need to struggle to get me places. <3 Anything raised past the goal will go to paying off my mother's heart surgery, buying any medical supplies I need at home, or will be donated to my local cancer hospital to help the other terminal patients! ...................................UPDATE: Thank you so much for everyone's continued donations! We blew through the original 200$ goal of getting a wheelchair for me so as thanks I will leave this fundraiser open for a month and donate 50% of the final proceeds to my local cancer hospital! I will provide proof of donation soon after July 1st so stay tuned to updates!