Help Ease The Financial Burden After Mom's Sudden Passing.

• Merry Ruth Johnson •

July 9, 1963 — August 22, 2024

Help towards easing the financial burdens of medical bills and funeral expenses our father has acquired after the sudden passing of our mother.

I’ve made this GoFundMe for the many friends and loved ones whom have reached out wanting to help ease the financial burden as we begin to learn how to navigate through next chapter in a life without her.

So since so many of you have reached out asking to and wanting to help I decided to create this fundraiser on my own. As our father has never been one whom asks for or accepts help from others.

As we all know though, the financial burden after the loss of a loved one is often quite difficult. It’s also one of the last things you want to or should have to worry about dealing with during an already stressful and emotional time as is.

The last thing we want is for our father to have to worry about figuring out the finances. Our mother had been the ‘book keeper’, managing all finances, for the entirety of there 32 years of marriage.

That alone seems to makes things a bit more difficult and stressful. Trying to gain access all banking accounts and payable/bill accounts on top of it all.

So I came here trying to find a way to help ease that burden four him and our family. As we of course worry about him deeply during this tough time and change in life.

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All donations will go towards helping supplement and ease the strain of the added financial burden caused from a loss of income prior to and now proceeding her passing.

With medical bills resulting from her hospitalization stacking up to nearly over $15,000 in addition to the cost of funeral services and other unexpected expenses. It’s a lot to have to bear and figure out all while returning back to work full time and morning her loss. All we want is to help our father as much as we can where we can.

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Below is a more detailed explanation of the events that have transpired over the previous 6-7 weeks since she was hospitalized.

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It absolutely broke our hearts when our mother passed away Thursday, August 22, 2024. Although we knew she was sick after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in early July. Ultimately spreading into both lungs, her liver, brain, and bone. The diagnosis itself had us all completely blindsided.

This past May she had suffered from a mild stroke which scared us all. Yet we felt rather lucky as she suffered from no major complications and was expected to make a full recovery. We thought the worst was behind us at the time.

Because of the stroke though she was unable to work for a minimum of 6 weeks.

Not long after she was finally getting feeling back on her right side and had just completed her final physical therapy appointment post-stroke. As well as right before she was to begin working again. She began to suffer from, what we thought was, just pneumonia. That pneumonia got significantly worse within less than a week's time and though she was seen for it and awaiting scheduling from the hospital to remove the fluid build-up in her lung. On July 5th, 2024, she was taken by ambulance to Cookeville Regional Medical Center after she felt unable to breathe nor felt she could make the drive to the hospital without medical intervention. Which we later found out was due to not only the fluid build-up almost causing her lung to collapse, but also sadly a tumor that was discovered in her right bronchial tube.

She would stay at CRMC only 2 days before having to be transported to the ICU at TriStar Centennial in Nashville, TN.

A day later is when we found out about the cancer diagnosis and learned the severity of how bad the pneumonia was.

There were many ups and downs these past 6-7 weeks but we never could have imagined that after July 5th she would never return home again. As on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, the doctors while standing next to our mother, called our father and explained to both of them that they deemed it best to no longer continue radiation treatments for the tumor in her bronchial tube.

((which had been causing severe breathing problems. And our main goal at that time was to hopefully have the treatments improve her breathing enough so she could at least come home.))

The doctor then proceeded to explain that unfortunately the cancer was just becoming far too aggressive making the radiation treatments the time it needs to take full effect and actually help improve the situation. It was then that the doctor told them both he would be contacting the palliative care unit. Which is basically hospice for those in the hospital unable to go home or be transferred to another facility.

It was just a short time after that conversation she start to become unresponsive and her body began to shut down. I think she knew it was the end and was ready to finally no longer be in pain.

They made her as comfortable as possible, and she had loved ones at her side all through that evening and into the early morning hours until she ultimately went peacefully to heavens gates that morning of August 22, 2024.

As much as we feel the unbearable hurt of loss that all seemed so sudden and too soon. We now can hopefully come to find some peace in knowing she’s at least no longer suffering and finally can rest easy. I must say God sure is lucky to have gained such an amazing angel, yet I think we were luckier ones. As we had the sheer blessing of sharing having shared so many years with her here on Earth. Years filled with an abundance of cherished memories, laughter , and an unmeasurable about of love. Yes, we may have lost her presence here on Earth, but we also gained an eternal angel to watch over us until the day we may meet again. So for that we grateful and the luckiest to have shard the time we did with her here ᥫ᭡.