Family and Medical Expenses

On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the world lost a beautiful soul. Talia Rose Shinn. Daughter, sister, friend, wife and mother. She was 36. She leaves behind her friends, family and her Soulmate and husband Chris and her 2 year old miracle daughter Sky. We, her family and friends are trying to raise money to cover medical bills and to help Chris financially since he has not been able to go back to work at this time. There was no time to plan. Talia developed a very aggressive cancer in her lungs. A cancer that had to have metastasized from another place in her body. This is her story.

In January Talia started having a lot of pain in her lower abdomen and back and she was struggling with Menometrorrhagia. By the end of January, she knew she needed to see someone. She struggled with endometriosis and PCOS for most of her life. She has had fibroids in her uterus. She often had pain and Menometrorrhagia. This was different. On February 12 Talia went to the ER. They did a CT scan and they saw "something" on her lungs but it was small. They did an ultrasound of the uterus but failed to do a transvaginal so they found nothing. She was given Tramadol for pain and it didn't touch it. By February 22nd she had dropped 20 pounds. She kept going to an OBGYN and they had no idea. On March 1 the doctor took out her contraceptive implant and advised her to take oral birth control for 1 more week. The doctor performed a pap smear and they tested her urine. No bladder infection, negative pap. They still had no answers to why she was in so much pain and she was starting to struggle to breathe. By March 3rd the bleeding had lessened and she felt a bit better. She called on March 6 because of very sharp pain in the front right area of her uterus. She also couldn't completely empty her bladder and was having to urinate once every hour through the night. She had also lost another 6 pounds. They scheduled her to come in on March 9 to see the doctor. On March 7th she slept a little better but continued to have cramps, back pain and Menometrorrhagia. She thought maybe just the endometriosis. She went to her appointment on March 9 and they did labs including a ca125 test. The results showed a very high white blood cell count and platelets. The ca125 is an ovarian cancer antigen test and it was very high. The doctor said they are going to find a general surgeon to see her and to go back to the ER if her pain or Menometrorrhagia gets worse. On March 10 she went back to the ER. They found she did in fact have fibroids in her uterus. They scanned her lungs again and the spotting had doubled. She was also severely dehydrated. They sent her home. Again. On March 11 she began vomiting. On March 12 they made her a phone appointment for the next day. That appointment didn't help. She finally saw a pulmonologist on March 20th. He Gave her some inhalers that didn't help. They scheduled her for a scope and a biopsy of the lungs, one on March 23 and the other on March 28. She didn't make it. On March 21st Talia went back to the ER at Willamette Falls. They kept her for 4 hours and after realizing they couldn't help her they sent her by ambulance to Saint Vincent. They were very concerned. For the first time, a hospital's staff was doing everything they could to help Talia. They put her on a ventilator. They wanted to try to get a lung biopsy. Because of how much oxygen she was needing they were unable to do a biopsy so on March 25th they transferred her by ambulance to Providence Portland. They had ECMO. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. A form of life support that keeps blood moving through the body and keeps blood gasses (oxygen and carbon dioxide) in balance. They had to paralyze her to do the biopsy. Monday March 26th the decision to let Talia wake up so that she could be involved in decisions and be told what was happening was made. They were also able to take the intubation tube out and supply oxygen through her nose. On Tuesday, March 27 the results were back. Cancer. Her lungs were completely compromised. The doctor said the cancer had to have come from somewhere else. Probably the ovary or uterus. He said in all of his 20 years as a Pulmonologist he had never seen such an aggressive fast moving cancer. He told us they did not yet know exactly what it was and if they could possibly give her a little more time. We needed to wait until the rest of the pathology report was back. He said it was terminal but that maybe something could be done for a short time. Talia was more and more lucid by Tuesday afternoon but talking was difficult for her after being intubated for so many days. The next day, Wednesday, March 28 we received the final results. Nothing could be done. So many people were at the hospital to show her how loved she was. How loved she is and always will be. At 4:30pm they began the process of removing the tubes and they shut off the ECMO function. The blood was circulating but it was no longer cleaning and oxygenating it. They made her as comfortable as possible through pain management. Her Mom Twylah, her father Marc, her husband Chris and her oldest and dearest friend and sister of her heart Shaina were by her side. The rest of us waited together outside of the ICU. At 11:45pm, those of us in the waiting area received the news. Our beautiful Talia had passed. We are devastated. Now, all we can do is what we know she would do. Support Chris and Sky. Give them all of the care and love that we can. Please help us to support them at this terrible time.