Help My Mom Fight Cancer

This is a fundraiser for my mom who is going to start the fight of her life in just a couple weeks. My mom (Julie) does not know I am raising money to help with treatment costs. I would like to be able to help out as much as possible with her medical expenses and her treatment as she can not work due to her diagnosis and treatment .

My mom has been diagnosed with Choroidal Ocular Melanoma which is a very rare cancer of the eye.. only about 1/6,000,000 people get diagnosed with this per year in America.. Luckily there is no metastasis, but this cancer is extremely aggressive. If it spreads, it goes right to the liver and survival rates are dramatically decreased. The cure rate is high if caught early but still comes at a devastating cost. She will be starting proton beam therapy (radiation) at Northwestern Medical Center in Chicago / Warrenville in a couple short weeks, and if that doesn’t work they will need to do a complete enucleation / removal of her left eye. Either way she will lose her eye sight in her left eye completely which is life changing and devastating

I think it would mean a lot to her if we were able to cover some of the treatment costs or cover the cost of a prosthesis when she does loses her vision so she doesn't need to worry about just "looking normal" which is a HUGE concern just in every day life..

As many of you are aware I, myself, am a cancer survivor and battled cancer at the age of only 13 years old.. my mom has been my rock and really supported me as did the rest of my family and many of you...to help me fight thru my battle and win!! Cancer has now again come to visit our family... never did I expect this to happen..

During September my mom began having issues with her vision in her left eye... blurred vision or the feeling like something was in her eye... it would come and go.. she would also see "flashers" in the corner of her eye when looking to the side... again not thinking too much about it and dismissing it as something in there. My mom talked with my dad (Mark) and he suggested she please go get her eyes checked at the local Visionworks which she did and this is how they discovered that she had "something" in her eye, The Dr. at Visionworks took multiple images and did an extensive exam and then referred our mom to a retina specialist for follow up the very same day.

Mom went to Kirk Retina Specialist located in Oak Park, Illinois who also conducted an extensive exam and again took multiple images and confirmed that mom had what appeared to be a melanoma. Dr. Kirk suggested mom follow up once again with an additional Dr. as this condition is very rare and the additional recommendation would be another opinion as to positive identification and treatment method(s). Mom and my dad went to see Dr. Kenneth Resnick at Retina Associates in Elmhurst, Illinois who conducted extensive exam and again more photos and did confirm the presence of a Choroidal Ocular Melanoma in her left eye.. Mom and dad left the Dr. in a world of disbelief learning how rare this cancer is and what the limited treatment options are... and were on their search for a treatment facility which would give mom the BEST chance for recovery and BEST treatment. Mom and dad did a ton of research and called many hospitals around the country educating themselves about this monster and treatment methods etc... Calling Boston, Texas, New York, Philadelphia and also a doctor here in Chicago... Mom and dad learned a lot and settled on Chicago and met with Dr. Randy Bowen who is an ocular oncologist / eye cancer specialist and his team at Northwestern Medicine. Mom is currently under care of Dr. Bowen and will begin radiation therapy as a form of treatment as stated and is hopeful this course of treatment will take care of the tumor but again.. at a severe cost with the loss of her vision / eye.. then for life she will have follow up scans... as do I, myself..

Our mom is an incredible person.. she is so giving and always makes sure we have the things we need for school or when we come home etc.. She was diagnosed on September 28th of this year and didn't want any of us to know because she was worried it would affect our school and ruin our upcoming birthday and Thanksgiving holiday / break... she was thinking of us, her children more than the battle of her life that she has to deal with.. Mom remained herself for my sister and my 21st birthday party.. working hard as she always does to make it a GREAT day for us... and knowing she has cancer.. she laughed, ordered food, prepared food and made it seem like everything was "normal" when it certainly was not... My sister and I would return to school and mom was preparing for Thanksgiving... wanting to host the holiday at our house... and now we know why... she never told anyone anything except our dad and didn't want to spoil anything for us... We came home again for Thanksgiving and of course mom washed our bedding... clothes and made an incredible Thanksgiving dinner without missing a beat... knowing she has cancer... she did ALL of this... for everyone and nobody knew..

Mom eventually did tell us as she thought it was important that we knew and told all of us... myself, my sister and our brother ... after Thanksgiving... sitting down and explaining everything in length to us and why she didn't tell us earlier... we all understood.. Our mom is incredible and dedicated herself to us and dealing with this monster she has to battle... we don't want her to worry about medical bills, hospital, bills, surgery bills etc... we want to be able to give something to her and my dad so she doesn't need to worry about medical expenses etc... All of this happening at the worst time of the year.. holidays... when it should be a happy time to enjoy with family... this is like a brick in the face to all of us.

I want to thank all of you in advance for any support you may be able to offer to our family... My dad (Mark Golosinski) as you know is a retired (semi retired) police officer from the Chicago Police Department and all of my life I would be amazed at how strong he was and the amazing work the police officers did ... fearlessly and courageously... never telling us of his battles at work.. I know why... and I can relate this to our mom not wanting to tell us about her cancer diagnosis and worry us as her children.. so we could have "normal" family functions and enjoy.. birthday and Thanksgiving... I know why... Our mom is such an amazing woman, mom, wife, she is my hero... I just want her to feel that... and to know that... and be able to do something for her after all she has done for us and never complains... even when she KNOWS she has cancer.. She is an amazing woman... Mom, I love you!! Victoria, Michael and Dad all love you and are behind you in this battle 1000% !!.. now... Let's kick this things ass!!