Lori's Network of Love & Support

Our beloved teacher, mentor, and friend, Lori Duckstad, has been living with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia for 4 years now.  She had been on a "watch and wait" status until February when she learned that the cancer is now circulating in her blood and she will need treatment.  There is no cure yet for this disease, but immunotherapies and new medications are being developed and natural therapies and lifestyle shifts are going to be important as she moves forward with her healing.  Teaching this Spring has become increasingly challenging for Lori as she has been experiencing a lot of fatigue, significant need for extra sleep and rest, more frequent colds and respiratory infections.

   For these reasons, Lori has reluctantly decided to leave Waldorf teaching and move to Virginia to be close to her daughter, Kelsey, and focus on getting the treatment she needs.  Unfortunately, leaving Sanderling means also leaving her health insurance. Despite her frugal lifestyle, being a school teacher in S. California for these years has not enabled Lori to have any cushion of a savings to help pay for her move across the country and the necessary unemployment time she will likely need to get settled into a new home and find a suitable part-time job that allows for the gentle lifestyle she will need to support her health.  And of course the extensive and regular medical care that she will need will be costly. The financial stress of leaving a full-time job and health insurance with a diagnosis like hers is truly daunting.

   Many of you probably know that it is not Lori's style to ask for help or publicly share her diagnosis in this way, but she allowed us to create this GoFundMe because the financial strain and stress is substantial and she understands that many who love and care about her truly want to help.

   Lori has given SO much love and dedication to countless children and touched the lives of so many families in San Diego, North County, and Fallbrook over many decades.  If everyone who has been touched by Lori Duckstad's kind heart and skillful teaching can donate what they are able to, we can collectively send Lori to the East Coast with a little less to worry about and a little more bandwidth to focus on her health and healing.

   Please forward this to anyone you know who might be able to help, and THANK YOU so much for the love and support!!!

***also please note that the above monetary goal is just a random amount needed on a gofundme profile page.   It is impossible to know what financial burden Lori has ahead of her so please ignore the "goal" and give what you feel is best for you and for Lori