End of Life expenses for Susan Ledford

Hi, I’m Janie (daughter #2) and I’m setting up this Gofundme to help offset end of life expenses for my mother, Susan Ledford.

Just over a month ago, Mom was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer after almost a year of chronic pain and the inability to eat. After losing over 60 pounds and many tests/scans, we finally checked her out of Grace Hospital took her to the Duke ER where a biopsy confirmed the cancer.

Mom has gone through a strict medication regiment for pain management and 2 rounds of chemo. This week, upon being admitted into the hospital via Catawba ER, the team discovered that the chemo essentially worked in reverse, causing the cancer to grow rapidly and expand to stage four. Part of this growth includes a blockage of her duodenum, which prevents any digestion.

As of today, April 29, the doctors have given mom 2 weeks to live. They have placed a PEG tube to prevent vomiting, and hospice has been initiated. Through kindness and connections, we have been able to find some available beach houses and thanks to contributions from mom’s church family, we are blessed to be able to stay all of next week with costs covered. We are so thankful to everyone for this, and are so happy to be able to take our kids and spend uninterrupted time with our mom. All four of us daughters and our children will be together with our parents, and some of moms siblings.

We are asking for help to lessen the burden of final costs once our mom is gone. Our dad has spent his life providing for us, including using his savings and retirement, and unfortunately because of economic circumstances there is nothing left for final arrangements.

We will use these funds in conjunction with what we have saved to cover our mother’s final costs, and anything left over will go to helping our dad cover backed up bills and expenses. We want to lighten our dad’s burden and give him what little relief we can at this time.

If you have met my mom, know that she loves you. Whether you call her Susan, Mom, Mrs. Ledford or Pudge, she has always held us and our friends so close to her heart. We are devastated, but look forward to our mom no longer experiencing pain.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, messages and love during this time.