Maria's Fight

This is still such a shock to us all... but here we go!

Everyone knows that the end of September brings our family so much sadness. Losing my husband, the girls losing their father to suicide in 2011, September is never a great month for us.

The past two months, I haven't really been feeling like my everyday self. I thought maybe if I just sleep, I'll feel better. You know me, I am stubborn. I'd rather sleep, take some ibuprofen and hope for the best. Ibuprofen didn't help me this time. I had a headache that just wouldn't go away, I had some pain in my hip, that I thought maybe was a pulled muscle from work, I was light headed and the room continued to spin. My daughters forced me to go to the doctor after seeing me not be able to get out of bed on my own. My blood test came back a little abnormal and I was told to go to the ER. My doctor thought that I may have had Meningitis.

After arriving to the ER, receiving a few scans. I was told that I had an 11 cm mass on my right lung that is inoperable and a 3 cm mass on the lower left side of the brain. My brain had more than a handful of masses as well as a significant amount of edema (fluid) on my brain. I was told right then and there, a diagnosis of Stage 4 Lung Cancer metastatic to the brain. My daughters, son and myself just cried. Hearing the word Cancer is scary enough as it is. A few days later, when I finally was transferred to my own room in the Oncology Department, I had a few CT Scan and MRI and was told I also have a small growth on my hip bone and in my adrenal glands.

The days seemed never ending at this point. I'm then told that because of the pain in my head being so severe, the Neurologist decided on brain surgery to remove the larger mass in my brain. They later changed their minds and decided to zap the larger mass as well as the smaller masses with Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) Radiation. The next day, I am sent home with a long list of medications that I will most likely be on for the rest of my life.

Fast forwarding to now, I have met with my Oncology team and I am set up to begin 2 different types of Chemotherapy as well as Immunotherapy Treatments on November 6th.

With being out of work since the end of September without pay..The cost alone of my hospital stay and co-pays from my follow up doctor appointments are already a great percentage of the asking amount.

If you could find the kindness in your heart to donate to help me and my family during this stressful time, I'd appreciate it with everything in me!

Thank you!