TikTok’s Grandma YoYo Needs You

Many of you know our Mom as TikTok’s favorite Grandma YoYo (@ocdocdonecutediva)... it’s been an amazing journey watching our mom go from the center of her three children and four grandchildren’s lives to being TikTok famous sharing her journey, silliness, positive energy, and desire for TikTok fame (in all honesty her original video seeking TikTok fame was just a joke, but here we are with Grandma YoYo having a million followers.) Many of her fans have stated she has provided them light in a world that is often filled with darkness. TL;DR- Grandma YoYo’s dying wish is to be able to stay at home at this time. We are anticipating needing to hiring on additional nursing help which isn’t covered by her insurance. The cost ranges, but could be as high as $95 an hour. All proceeds will be used to help her stay as comfortable as possible and absorb costs occurred as a result of her illness. During the time of her Illness she literally became TikTok famous, or a TikTok legend as some call her. Please help however you can. Donate. Share. And keep sharing. Knowing that we’ll be able to take care of her needs without putting my stepfather in the poor house will be a huge relief to my mom. ================================== My mom, Linda Roper, was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2018. I was in the hospital with her for six days after driving through the night when she went through multiple procedures and surgeries to get her diagnosis and prognosis. We were told there was no surgery and treatment wasn’t a viable option for her. I laid in her hospital bed with her whenever she wanted (silver lining of us being so slender). I calmed her fears the best I could, but back then when I looked in her eyes all I saw was fear. We passed the time watching game shows, 90 day fiancé, and whatever else kept moms interest. Definitely some times of laughter. Some inappropriate morbid humor too. A couple weeks after getting released from the hospital she saw an oncologist November 27, 2018... I’ll never forget being on speaker phone at the San Diego Zoo, stepping away from my family enjoying the animal, and hearing the news that she likely had less than 6 months to live. Hospice came soon after. She absolutely loved her nurse Meghan. Instant connection. That eased all of our hearts. MidDecember I was on my daily phone call with mom (we’d always talked most days, but now the phone calls were much more important)... she talked about how great it was to visit with her brother Terry on the phone. I heard joy in my mom’s voice for the first time in a while... so without thinking about any of the details I said “Mom, would you like me to take you to California to see your brother?” (At this point they hadn’t seen each other since 1997) She immediately teared up and said “you’d do that?” I said of course even before speaking to my husband or boss. Luckily both were on board. So I set out planning mom’s ONCE in a life time trip. Mom invited my siblings to go too and my brother Steven (@btypep) jumped at the chance. Having this trip planned gave mom something to look forward to... her nurse Meghan confided in me that she thought her health would decline quickly after this trip based on her experience and conversations with mom...just meant we needed the trip to be as special as possible. After all, it was once in a lifetime. I drove to South Dakota late January and took her on a plane (something she has always hated). We had a great trip seeing her brother, Terry, visited her parents’ graves and saw the family of my deceased Uncle Jim. We had dinner with my brothers dear friends Joe (Nino), David and my Aunts Sue and Janet. So great seeing everyone. We took her to the musical Wicked (which I’d talked about taking her to for years) and she was blown away. She weaseled her way into taking a picture in the cock pit of a plane. It was a magical once in a life time trip. Cut to February and she went to L.A. again with my brother for another once in a life time trip. It was on this trip my brother had fun making a TikTok video with mom to the song Milkshake. He helped make her an account and in February 15, 2019 she posted a video saying she was going to get TikTok famous like my brother Steven (who wasn’t even TikTok famous yet.) she had fun making videos and showing her Facebook friends... then she had a viral video (well viral by our definition) showing off her crafts. Was so much fun reading the comments about how much people connected with my mom. The comment I saw over and over again was “we must protect this woman at all cost.” I wholeheartedly agree. March Steven and I took mom to L.A. for her last once in a lifetime trip. We saw my uncle again, went to a huge swap meet and took mom to Disneyland. This was the first inkling we got that TikTok fame was coming for my brother. Two fans recognized him and then one recognized my mom. Such a small world. It was fun for her... other than having to sit and watch Steven do one of his eating videos. During this trip I was able to take mom to the L.A. Zoo. Seeing my mom see monkeys was always a joy of mine. She lights up around monkeys as she owned two monkeys when she was younger... another great trip in the books. When May came around it was time to re-certify for hospice. Which means she made it to the six month mark. We were so fortunate. Wanting to know if her tumors had progressed she went off hospice long enough to have scans, which showed no major progression of her tumors, so physicals suggested treatment with Keytruda, which did help for some time...eventually traveling for treatment wasn’t viable and she went back on hospice about six months ago. At the beginning of February 2020, she started to progress more rapidly. I was in Oklahoma at Army training helpless as I learned she was losing some bodily functions, decreasing appetite and needing more assistance. I couldn’t talk with her much during my training, but at one point her she told me her appetite was back. but on February 24 I called to say hi and she told me she was down to eating only puréed foods... I pulled some strings and was able to leave my training February 26 to be by her side... I’ve been here ever since aside from checking her PO Box, running errands, getting her and my stepfather groceries, etc. The last TikTok she did herself (one year to the day from her first one) she reported she wanted everyone to know she wanted to watch the Mr. Rogers movie... I had it in my hand when I came to surprise her. That and a red slurpee. Sorry to carry on like this... but it’s cathartic for me. I am being very strong for mom not breaking down in front of her because her seeing me in pain will only cause her unneeded pain. But know that my heart is breaking... My brother will be here next week, which will be wonderful. We love all her fans and I can’t thank you enough for being something positive for my mom in her last time on earth.