Cindy Cooper: Support for her Family & Memorial

Hello. I'm Alexandra and I'm Cindy's daughter. Most of you who know her will be surprised to know that she was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer 18 months ago. She's been through 2 major surgeries, radiation, and a brief try with chemo. Her body can't properly process the chemo so she made the choice to forego it. Unfortunately, exactly 12 months after her diagnosis we learned the cancer had advanced to stage 4 and is now in multiple organs including her abdomen and right lung. Her doctor immediately started the process to get her approved for immunotherapy but it took 4 long months to finally get approved. In that time, it had metastasized further into her liver and other organs.

She was able to start the treatment in October and was hopeful the side effects would be none to minimal (as can be the case with Keytruda) but that's not how it's worked out. Instead, she is experiencing extreme fatigue that has her sleeping up to 20 hours a day at times. She's losing weight rapidly and is so weak she has to use a walker to move around. There are times she can't keep food or water down for days or even speak much.

We have great hope in her treatment because when it works (approx 20% of the time) it can put stage 4 patients into complete remission. Her medical team is very hopeful and so are we, however, we need to relieve her stress and anxiety over financial issues in order for her to concentrate on healing. I believe this is extremely important to the process. She hasn't been able to work for months and it's taken a huge toll. On top of living expenses, there are things her insurance doesn't pay for including full-time in-home care, meal delivery and many, many medical supplies. Our family and a few close friends have done an enormous amount for us already but she worries about putting a burden on us all as I'm now the main provider and with 3 kids it just doesn't stretch that far.

The single most important thing is to get her to stop worrying and stressing. She is heartbroken at having to take a break from her company, WorldScout, but she's fighting this disease so she can remain here longer for me and my 3 kids and so she can complete her business goals. If you know my mom, you know how determined she can be. Please consider helping her to the finish line.

Thank you so much for either sharing this or donating or both. All of you are in our prayers.