Liz fights stage 4 DLBC Lymphoma & Paralysis

Hi! My name is Brooke and together with my three sisters-Dominique, Brittaney, and Christa- we are fundraising to help our mom, Liz, who was just diagnosed with stage IV Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma that has resulted in paralysis and need for 24/7 care.

Liz became suddenly and inexplicably paralyzed over the course of just a few days in April. She went from working full-time and caring for her dog and herself to being unable to walk, sit-up, lift her arms, or hold her bladder and bowel movements.

In a matter of days she lost all of her independence and ability to care for herself.

Our sister Brittaney took her to the ER in Comanche, Tx seeking answers THREE times in one week and was continually dismissed, assured our mother was fine, that her scans were normal, and that her bloodwork showed no concerns. The doctors shamed my sister for wasting their time and refused to treat our mom or investigate further, claiming she just needed chiropractic work.

After a week of suffering, negligent medical care, and mounting frustration, Brittaney drove our mother 2.5 hours to a trauma center in Fort Worth and within an HOUR they had a crushing diagnosis- cancer. Throughout her body with large tumors on her spine causing her paralysis... An immediate diagnosis that was somehow missed at the Comanche hospital during the three previous visits.

We were devastated to learn that our mother had cancer and that her paralysis was caused by the incredibly rare presentation of having Lymphoma in the spine. She had three obvious tumors on her spine and spots on her lungs as well.

The Fort Worth doctors were amazing and preformed emergency spinal surgery the next morning to remove the primary tumor that they believed was responsible for her paralysis. The surgery was only a partial success. The primary tumor was wrapped around her spinal cord and her neurosurgeon was only able to safely remove a portion of it. The remainder is still compressing her spine and nerves and causing continued paralysis.

Within the week we received official pathology back that it was Stage IV Diffuse Large B Cell Lymohoma. DLBC Lymphoma is an aggressive cancer and while generally responsive to chemo, to have it in the spine is rare (less than 1% of all cases) and the outlook is often grim. Our mom has chosen to fight though and unfortunately she has a very long and arduous road ahead of her.

Liz has just started her chemo regimen, an aggressive protocol known as R-CHOP- consisting of SIX rounds of chemotherapy and steroids administered 3 weeks apart. Her treatment is located in Fort Worth and requires my sister to drive her 5 hours round trip for every appointment.

After Liz spent three weeks in the hospital, our sister, Christa, was able to assist in getting the paperwork started for Medicaid eligibility and secured our mom an emergent nursing home placement (pending Medicaid approval) near Brittaney in Comanche, Tx.

As of now it’s unclear whether the damage caused by the spinal tumors will be permanent. The hope is that chemo will shrink the remaining tumors and alleviate the compression that is causing paralysis but we were told nerve damage could be long lasting.

Our mom now requires 24/7 care at her skilled nursing home and we are crossing our fingers and praying for Medicaid approval to cover the cost.

In addition to round the clock care, our mother needs physical and occupational therapy to relearn and regain basic movement.

Brittaney, who herself only just recently returned to work after her own cancer battle last year, missed three weeks of work and wages caring for our mom and will need to take time off for future appointments.

We know money is tight for everyone right now and while we would never expect or feel entitled to any kind of help, we were hoping to raise a small amount of money to help offset the cost of travel expenses for medical appointments back and forth to Fort Worth, lodging when needed, fuel, current insurance deductibles, and out of pocket expenses and prescriptions while we await a decision from Medicaid (pray for approval).

Please donate if you can and share if you can’t. Any amount helps ❤️❤️❤️

You can also Venmo @Brookec0502 if you’d rather contribute outside of this site.