Help My Mom, Charmaine, Breathe Again

Hi, my name is Alycia Forbes, and it has been one heck of a year!

Last October, my mom didn’t feel well and went to the doctor for a checkup. After her bloodwork showed that nothing was wrong, she had the intense feeling to get a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray led to a CT with contrast, revealing a massive sarcoma. My mom, Charmaine, was diagnosed with a rare solitary fibrous tumor that grew in the pleura of her right lung. October 28th, she had surgery at Huntsman Cancer Institute, and Dr. Mitzman, a fantastic surgeon, removed the 1.6-pound (yes, pound!) sarcoma, which we named Frightful Fred because we were terrified and didn’t know how all of this would shake out. After seven days in the hospital, Charmaine came home and began her healing journey. Dr. Mitzman said that because we don’t live at sea level here in Salt Lake, she would need oxygen support for “a while” until she was strong enough to maintain her oxygen saturation levels on her own.

In July, Charmaine spent three weeks visiting my sister, Shawna, in Washington state and was so excited because she thought she had conquered her battle. On her trip, she didn’t need to use any supportive measures to breathe! She stopped wearing her pulse oximeter and oxygen support and felt free!

After those three weeks, Charmaine flew back home to Salt Lake City. When I picked her up from the airport, I could tell something was wrong the moment I saw her. She was frustrated and said, “Darn it, I can’t breathe.” She turned on the portable oxygen concentrator and put on the cannulas in her nose. I reassured her that she was tired and said she wouldn’t need to use the oxygen machine after getting some rest. That was three months ago. The elevation here in Salt Lake City is over 4000 feet, and my mom struggles hourly to take each breath.

With more developing news, unfortunately, one year to the day my mom was diagnosed with Frightful Fred, my sister Shawna was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Frightful Fred now has a partner in crime, Maggy the Malignant. My sister has to have a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, and she and her husband need my and my mom’s help.

She bought a condo for us to live in and is renovating it as quickly as she can so it has clean air for our mom, but her funds are running out. We need to raise money as soon as possible for relocation costs and airline tickets to move from Salt Lake City to Poulsbo, Washington. Along with relocation costs, my mom needs to rent a portable oxygen concentrator so she can fly once our belongings are packed up and begin their journey back to Washington state.

Any help would be such a blessing to our family. Thank you!