Donate to help LENA conquer stage 4 cancer

For those of you who know Lena, she is always trying to gather people together. She is well known for her inclusion and always the first to offer assistance to others. She has an 11 year old daughter and has been a large presence in her daughter's life and education. I am happy we can do something for her for a change.

 

At only age 50, last winter, she received the devastating news she has stage 4 metastatic bladder cancer that had also traveled to many sites throughout her body. She immediately began radiation therapy and soon after chemotherapy.

 

These treatments were especially painful and she wound up in the hospital on no less than 7 occasions for her pain. Sadly,  in March she learned that the chemotherapy had been completely unsuccessful. Almost all of her tumors actually grew. Some even doubled in size. A very scary proposition when you are stage 4. Her chemotherapy was immediately terminated and she was then moved to immunotherapy.

 

After extensive research to find a doctor with ground breaking clinical trials for her particular cancer, her family found Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. Voted the #2 hospital in the country for cancers. She was recently accepted as a patient by their top doctor, who is the chair of the bladder cancer unit.

 

Her insurance considers this new doctor and cancer center as out of network. She has gone through many hoops with her insurance to get them to cover her treatments in NY. She just received the great news that her insurance has given her the green light and will cover her medical care in New York.

 

Lena is exhausting her money with medical bills and she couldn't work in these past months since her diagnosis. 

 

We are reaching out to ask for your help to cover all of her continuing travel and lodging costs to New York. It is very likely that she will need to travel there every 3 weeks, all year. All funds will go directly to travel, lodging and household bills.

 

Miracles can happen and we are hoping her miracle is waiting for her in New York.