Help support the family of Kathleen O'Neill-Bossio

From the daughters of Kathleen:

"Anticipated grief- that has been our family's lives since Aug 2023 when my mom was diagnosed with Renal Cell Cancer. At that moment, we all felt like our world was falling apart. I remember sitting in the hospital with her for 8 days praying every moment I could get, praying it was not Cancer, but it was, and she needed extensive surgery. My mom, our wild princess warrior baby dolphin, our fragile delicate mom who suffers from extreme health anxiety after losing her sister to cancer and her brother in law to cancer just 3 years prior, gets told she too has cancer. We had to act fast. After a 9 hour procedure with 2 surgeons removing her kidney, gallbladder and a piece of her liver and a scan afterwards, we celebrated with the doctors when we were told she was cancer free, what a relief in our hearts it was, but something was not right when mom was still feeling pain 9+ weeks later post surgery, and we were scheduled for her 3 month follow up scan January 2024. I will never forget the phone call from the doctors- "We found several 'spots' scattered through your mom's admoninal tissue, liver and as doctors we are shocked to see this" I remember calling my mom to share the news with her that we need to make an appointment with her oncologist because they found something on the scan and watching my mom have fear in her eyes is something I never wanted. We had an extensive conversation with her surgeons and oncologist and the news we received was a dagger to our hearts- mom had Stage 4 Cholangiocarcinoma, a very rare aggressive cancer of the bile duct and it had spread to other organs. Sitting in the office with my mom and hearing her ask the doctors "Will I live" broke my heart into pieces. My mom, the woman who raised 3 daughters by herself, the woman who sacrificed her life to take care of us and make ends meet at all costs, the woman who put her girls first and just wanted our love and time had to sit in the doctors office to ask if she's going to live. From that point on, mom was ready to fight, from chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation, mom continued to push through no matter how hard the treatments were on her body, her 60 pound weight loss, her extreme nausea and fatigue, she just wanted to live, and live for her family, and we never gave up fighting with her, never leaving her alone for any doctor appointment, hospital stay or treatment. We advocated for her at all costs getting her everything she needed. Mom kept pushing, she always did. Unfortunately in December 2024 mom was rushed in the hospital for a 2 week stay with Sepsis Shock, it was an incredibly difficult time because she had a severe blood infection that impacted her brain and how she was able to function, but after antibiotics and antifungal, mom pushed through and was discharged from the hospital improving greatly from home, but after a week of several falls, on Christmas day, mom was extremely weak and unable to walk or hold her head up and we had to take her back into the hospital. That's when our world came crashing down. Her oncology and palliative care team assessed mommy, and informed us that she no longer is a candidate for chemotherapy and we need to transition to comfort care. I will never forget the look on my mom's face when they told her and I couldn't protect her the way I was any longer. It's a vivid memory I wish I never had. The fear in her eyes when she asked the doctors how much time do I have left, and they told her they didn't know. The sinking feeling I have in my chest reliving this moment is too much to bare.

We took her home, and it was bittersweet. We want mommy home, but we know what this means. We tried to get a second opinion with Sloan Kettering, but unfortunately they told us that Northwell did everything they could, and mommy is not a candidate. We were devastated searching for a lifeline that no longer existed and any denial we all had as a family became a terribly hard realization very quickly, mommy is not going to survive.

Since then, we have started hospice, and watch mommy have some highs but a lot of lows and declines. This time has been traumatizing but we want nothing more to than to have mommy home with us, because she has sacrificed so much for us, and all we want to do is give her the peace of mind to be in her own home during this terrible, terrible time.

Our hearts are broken. She is the head of household, the fire in our hearts, our tiny but mighty soldier, our wild princess warrior baby dolphin and she has fought so so hard, we wish we were not writing this right now. The doctors informed us that we may only have a few weeks left with mommy as her cancer progression is very agressive, and because of this, we created this gofundme today.

We ask that if you can, please donate. Mommy did not have life insurance, and arrangements are very expensive. Even if it's one dollar, one share, everything counts.

To all of our friends and family and supporters, we thank you in advance for considering this. We want to give my mom the proper burial, with her wishes to be buried with her dad, sister and brother. She deserves everything and more and we could not be more thankful for you all."