Dottie Gerhart Medical & Memorial Comfort Aid

I'm Humbled that you have visited or seen my Mom's (Dottie's) Page. My Name is Stephen Gerhart, I have a brother Anthony and a Dad "Bob" or Robert Gerhart. This story is a mess, life is a mess sometimes and I'll try to tell it the best I can.

My mom Dorothy (Dottie), has cancer. We were told on 5/11/2021 that she has 7 to 10 day's maybe more, maybe less to live her last days of life with us. There were further medical & surgical choices that could have prolonged her life, but it was her choice to go this route. She was in and out of the hospital 6 times, multiple says of a week or more with I believe 3 total surgery's leading to this point.

Dottie Love's the Lord, she is smiling and full of joy even as she is aware these are her final days. Her husband Bob, Anthony and I also love the Lord. There will be pain, sorrow, loss & burden to deal with, but God has a plan and maybe this is part of His plan to lighten the burden.

How did we get here and why is help needed? I'd say it's a combination of error, misfortunes & the general struggle of life. In 2015 my dad was laid off from his job in construction, before that he did telephone work for 19 years, drove tractor trailer for awhile and had his own business cutting down trees before that. A former Marine, never on unemployment and tried his best to provide without assistance from others. He always worked and worked hard for the money that provided a stable life for our family. In 2015 he & I restarted a tree business (to help with additional income) and my wife and I had just bought a house with a wooded lot and I needed to learn what he knew cutting down / trimming trees. When he lost his job, it was decided that he could go into full time tree work. This type of work is hard in a lot of ways. Often it would require rentals, broken equipment (trucks, chippers, chainsaws, ropes etc.). I heard it said by a seasoned pro arborist "if your looking to get rich in this business, it's the wrong business to be in. You'll make a living, but that's about it".

So throughout my families life we've gotten by, but were never in a position to save, or buy a house or anything extravagant. Since my dad was running the business and my mom seemed to be healthy he hadn't carried health insurance on her, until a few months before she was diagnosed with cancer in her uterus. My Mom 61 at the time and 62 now didn't qualify for many government support systems for older people.

They noticed that my mom had lost a lot of weight and was in pain, something seemed to be going on. The doctors revealed she had cancer in her uterus and recommended surgery. She went into the hospital to have her uterus removed (hysterotomy) just before thanksgiving 2020. The report was that the surgery went well and the cancer seemed to be "dead" inside her uterus and didn't seem to be anywhere else. Since she had lost a lot of weight (~86lbs) and she was weak from surgery my parents decided to forgo follow up chemo-therapy or radiation.

Days after my mom was released she started throwing up and having trouble passing food thru her Bowles. They went into the hospital and had her on TPN and did something to get things moving. She was released and a week or two went by and she again was having the same symptoms, throwing up, bloated and a tight abdomen. Again They went into the hospital for the same treatment and there was a discussion of follow up exploratory surgery if this happened again.

We made it to Christmas and were able to celebrate together, my mom didn't look great, I could tell something was off, but she was there with us. The day after I got a call from my dad that my mom was again having problems passing food and not keeping anything down, he said he needed help getting her to the car, because she was so weak.

I went, she looked bad. Helped get her to the car and then off they went. While driving to the same hospital my dad decided, he's not going there again and on a whim he went to a well known hospital. They got an answer. Part of her bowel was pinched in the abdomen wall where the surgery had taken place. They immediately did surgery and repaired / removed the area that was causing the issue. She was in the ICU and hospital there for almost a week and then was discharged.

She was in and out of a local hospital for follow up's and everything seemed like it was going to get better. Month's went by she was gaining weight and able to walk a bit, seemed like great progress. Then I believe my mom or dad noticed two lumps near in her abdomen and went in for a scan (that previously showed she was clear). It revealed that the cancer was back in two spots it seemed to be only there. They recommended chemotherapy and then radiation. My mom deliberated on this, because she saw what that had done to her mom who passed from cancer a few years back. My parents declined the treatment and found a natural approach that seemed to have great success. Lots of fruits and vegetables and no sugar & minimal protein.

they were on the road with this natural program and everything seemed to be going well. About 2 or 3 weeks in she was complaining of diarrheic  type passes. We thought oh it must be because of all the fruit and vegetables thru shakes she been having. One day a week ago, she ate a cooked potato and she thought I could go for a salad as well. Seemed she blamed it on this meal, but she got bound up in her intestines, tight abdomen and threw up. My dad seeing these things before brought her into the hospital. It was found out that the cancer had grown larger and in different areas. It was effecting her bowles, kidney's and other parts.

This brings you to the top of my story. We were told she has 7-10 days to live, maybe more or maybe less.

Thru all of this my dad was under the belief that the insurance he had gotten was going to cover at least some of the medical bills. He soon found out that they were not going to cover them (what we were initially told). Out of pocket expenses, and hospital bills up into the hundreds of thousands. He was also unable to work full time for about 9 months on and off due to her condition. I am unaware of what the number is, but it's a very large burden. He's always worked, helped people, gave where he could, but has always had a hard go at it in life. He's loosing his love of 37 years may 26th is their anniversary.

Love you all, thank you for reading all of this. It's a mess, life is, especially thru the other things going on around us. Your thoughts, prayers and financial help will be greatly appreciated.

 I don't take care of the bills, I have an idea what they would cost without anything. There are unanswered questions still lingering with insurance, federal/state assistance.