Help Leslie and her sons in their time of need

Hi, we are Holly and German, and we are fundraising to support our friend and colleague Leslie and her sons, Nicholas and Kevin, as they navigate the final stages of Leslie’s aggressive and incurable metastatic bile duct cancer.

For those who don’t know Leslie, she has dedicated her life to doing good things for other people. Whether she was raising her two boys on her own after she lost her husband, working with Youth With A Mission in Cambodia, Thailand, and Peru, or contributing countless hours as a GISCorps volunteer and Core Committee member, Leslie has never hesitated to do her part to make the world better for others. In recent years, she worked in Kenya mapping villages and towns in support of efforts to eradicate polio in the Horn of Africa with the World Health Organization before returning to the United States to take a GIS job with American Leprosy Missions (more on Leslie's professional adventures and achievements in this Story Map). No matter who she is trying to help or what she is working on, Leslie’s faith, humanity, and generosity have always shone through. Now, she finds herself in a challenging circumstance where she needs others to do good things for her and her sons.

 

In short, Leslie’s cancer has devastated her finances as well as her health. She needs donations to cover monthly insurance premiums, medications, and living expenses (approximately $2,000/month). She also needs several repairs and retrofits done on her home now that she is too weak to climb stairs or help her disabled son lift his wheelchair out of the car and into the house. These include widening doorways, building ramps, and fixing a major plumbing issue. Because of the plumbing issue, Leslie has to climb a flight of stairs to use the bathroom and she must leave the house to shower. As her health has deteriorated, this situation has become unsustainable.

 

With sufficient donations, Leslie could convert her freestanding garage into an apartment for her disabled son to live in. This conversion would enable him to rent out her house after her passing, providing Nicholas with both a place to live and a small source of income. It would also provide Leslie the peace of mind that comes with knowing that her son will have a roof over his head when she's no longer here. Any additional funds will cover his living costs beyond the $900 disability payment he receives each month. Leslie’s other son, Kevin, will receive and manage the funds raised by this GoFundMe campaign.

 

What follows is Leslie’s story in her own words:

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"Hi, I am Leslie and I have stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma or bile duct cancer. In mid-2020 as COVID-19 kept everyone inside, I started feeling unwell. My stepdad had just died, my mom was staying with me, and I was sleeping on the couch, so being a little off was not unexpected. After finding a memory care facility for my mom and resuming a normal schedule, I expected to be refreshed, but was not. By the end of the year I was having pain in my back and chest...but it wasn’t that bad. I have a high deductible health insurance policy, and I would have to pay the cost of the ER visit, so I waited until my policy reset on January 1.

 

"On January 2, 2021, I went to the ER and they diagnosed acid reflux and gave me meds that didn’t help, so I followed up with my primary doctor who ordered blood work. That night, the lab called and said my pancreas numbers were so high the test couldn’t measure them, and I needed to go directly to the ER.

 

"I spent my first ever night in a hospital in a beautiful room looking out at the snow-covered Colorado mountains. I didn’t fully grasp the urgency, as I felt good that day. A GI scope only showed a lot of inflammation, so they sent me home. The next day I woke up with yellow skin. I have very pale skin so it was interesting to have some color, but it was obviously not healthy. I returned to the hospital with jaundice, and both my pancreas and liver numbers were trending badly.

 

"Between January and April, I was in and out of the hospital for over 3 weeks and had numerous follow-up appointments. I had over 15 GI scopes, most involving stents and biopsies. At the end of April, they were finally able to find, isolate, and identify the cells as pancreatic cancer. The doctors were hopeful that they found it early and pushed me to get surgery as soon as possible.

 

"The surgery in May 2021 went well, but my stomach did not wake up and start working properly. I spent three more weeks in the hospital and still was not able to eat or drink when I left. I was on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) IV food for a total of six weeks and was not able to eat or drink during this time. Then, eventually, one day I got hungry and my stomach tolerated food, so I was able to start eating again.

 

"About this time, I was told that the cancer was actually bile duct cancer not pancreatic cancer, and it was not in the early stages. I had stage IIIA (pT3N2) distal extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and would now need a much more involved treatment plan involving chemo and radiation.

 

"Fast forward one year, after months of treatment, the doctors at MD Anderson were speechless with what they called “flowering of my cancer,” and that they had only seen this happen two other times. Basically as soon as chemo and radiation stopped, the cancer started growing everywhere.

 

"Now in June, it has been six weeks since my last failed chemo infusion. I had a CT scan that showed the cancer growing like a spring garden with nodules in the right lung, thyroid gland, liver, pancreas, and bowel. I have gone from having one 2-cm mass in my bile duct to over 25 masses large enough to measure. Along with my family and doctors, I am left speechless as to how this could have ever happened.

 

"I started hospice on June 6. After the CT results, it was easy to see that my body has a much harder time with chemo than the cancer does. I lost over five pounds in the last two weeks. I will now have a nurse come visit me twice a week, and when needed, a CNA can come in and help with showering. They do not supply full-time care, so I will have to try and do as much for myself as I can. My son Nicholas is helping, but his health has also deteriorated since I have been sick.

 

"At this point, the cancer is so big I can feel it, and it will not be stopped with chemo. My brain, on the other hand, is clearer than it has been in a year now that the chemo and radiation is out of my body. I would rather have fewer days that are good than to have loads of days that are bad.

 

"Hopefully, hospice will offer more supportive care and they will be able to work with me as my pain and nausea increase. Blessings.” - Leslie

 

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We appreciate everyone who can contribute and help publicize this effort. All funds go directly to the Zolman family. If you are unable to donate, please consider sharing far and wide.