Michelle's End-of-Life Home Care

This fund is for Michelle Douvris, a single mother with terminal brain cancer. Unfortunately, we are not raising money to fund life-saving treatment or to send Michelle and her son on a dream vacation. More than anything, we wish that was the case. Sadly, after more than a year of surgical and medical interventions, the cancer is no longer treatable and Michelle is not well enough to travel. Instead, we are asking for your help to fulfill Michelle’s final wish - to spend the last weeks of her life at home, with her thirteen-year-old son, Jackson, by her side.

Prior to cancer, Michelle was an active and energetic mom who prided herself on her independence and caring for her son. She has the admirable quality of managing high amounts of stress with grace and fortitude. Cancer has been no exception. True to form, Michelle has faced brain cancer with little assistance – financial or otherwise. She is not only Jackson’s mom, she is a mama bird to anyone in need, happily tucking them under her protective and nurturing wing. It is now time for us to take Michelle under our collective wing to help her and her family fulfill this final wish.

Your generosity and support will make a meaningful difference in easing the ever-increasing caretaking costs, medical bills and household expenses. Your donations, regardless of size, will reduce the financial burden of end-of-life care and allow Michelle to remain at home with Jackson.

We invite you to take a moment to read more about Michelle’s cancer in the next section. For details on how your donations will be used, scroll down to the last section titled Financial Assistance.

Cancer and Treatment

In October 2022, Michelle was packing her bags for a trip to Disneyland when she experienced an excruciating headache with acute eye pain and dizziness. This wasn’t new - she’d been suffering from eye pain for months, pain doctors dismissed as “dry eyes.” But this was significantly worse. At two am, she roused her son out of bed and called for help. Instead of flying to Disneyland, Jackson climbed into an ambulance as his mom was rushed to the hospital. Michelle was admitted to intensive care and completed a series of scans that revealed a brain hemorrhage caused by a large tumor (nearly the size of a tennis ball) in her frontal lobe. Two days later, emergency surgery successfully removed the tumor, leaving only a small mystery spot behind. Three weeks later, the pathology report confirmed the worst - a Grade 4 Glioblastoma.

Brain tumors – especially of this size and grade – demand swift and intense treatment. Following the craniotomy, Michelle spent a week in the hospital followed by six weeks of recovery. She bravely battled her way through six more weeks of daily radiation and endured eight months of chemotherapy. Last July, when Michelle reached the maximum duration of chemo, she showed no signs of recurrence. Her doctors optimistically stopped treatment.

Michelle did not need a cancer wake-up call to adjust her priorities – Jackson always has and always will be her number one. They have visited Disneyland at least once a year for most of Jackson’s life so they celebrated her recovery with the postponed Disney trip. She returned to work, moved to a larger apartment in a walkable neighborhood and enrolled Jackson in a better school. Life was settling into a new version of normal.

(Disneyland)

That normalcy was short-lived. The headaches and eye pain returned and an MRI revealed a new tumor growing behind her left eye nerve. She immediately started immunotherapy treatment and underwent a second surgery. Unfortunately, this tumor was stuck to the eye nerve and could not be completely removed. The cancer progressed and Michelle pressed on, bravely fighting for her life while prioritizing Jackson’s education and future. In fact, she handled it so well, she appeared to be thriving.

In late January, two days before she and Jackson were scheduled to fly to Hawaii with their extended family, Michelle took another ambulance ride and ended up in neuro-critical care. For thirteen terrifying hours, Michelle was unresponsive and the doctors were not sure she would wake up again. In just a handful of weeks, the cancer had advanced at a startling pace with multiple tumors on both sides of the brain and brainstem causing significant brain swelling.

Instead of enjoying the magic of one last memory-making vacation with Jackson, her mom, siblings and their families, Michelle spent twelve days in the hospital. Instead of lounging on sunny beaches, Jackson and the family gathered in uncomfortable waiting rooms under fluorescent lighting hoping for more time.

Michelle’s fierce determination to push back against the odds, excessive amounts of love and support from her family and heavy doses of steroids have extended her time by successfully reducing the swelling. Michelle not only woke up, she came back to us - talking, sitting up and feeding herself.

Even with this rebound, Michelle's prognosis is less than three months and her medical team has transitioned her to end-of-life care. Despite losing her autonomy and mobility, Michelle has not surrendered. Motivated by her desire to keep Jackson out of hospitals, she worked with occupational and physical therapists to gain enough strength to go home.

Her impaired vision and limited mobility require two full time caregivers and a slew of medical equipment. Without hesitation, Michelle’s family has disrupted their lives to manage the daunting task of caring for her through this tender time. But they cannot do this alone. To supplement the coverage they are providing in shifts, the family is paying out-of-pocket for in-home professional help.

Michelle’s Homecoming

On Monday, February 5th, Michelle returned to her redecorated apartment and new roommates - her mom, Cindy, and sister, Charisse. Propped up in her living room hospital bed, next to large windows and shelves of plants, Michelle ate heartily, laughed and interjected her thoughts into conversations across the room. Back in her own home, she issued directions and orders, not just to Jackson, but to everyone crowded into her apartment to celebrate. She may not be able to move about or see clearly, but there is nothing wrong with her hearing, sense of humor or appetite. She devoured a large bowl of pasta, swapped stories and giggled over inside jokes with friends as Jackson zoomed in and out of the apartment on his hoverboard (which Michelle referred to as his doodleboard).

After spending hours in a hospital for more than a week, everyone, especially Michelle, was happy to see Jackson asserting his independence and prioritizing his friends where he can still pop in to check on his mom. This is why Michelle is home, to give Jackson some normalcy in the most abnormal times.

(Michelle home with her son)

End-of-Life Care

In an effort to optimize the quality of her remaining time, Michelle receives bi-weekly infusions of a tumor-starving drug designed to prevent the growth of new blood vessels that might feed tumors. It is not curative and may have little effect against Glioblastoma but her medical team is hoping it alleviates some of the brain swelling, reduces her pain and eases the fatigue and other side effects of end stage brain cancer. Michelle’s health insurance, however, deems this drug a life saving treatment, disqualifying her for any hospice care coverage.

This treatment will not add time to her life, but it might improve the quality of her remaining time. It might give her time for more conversations, more laughter and even more goodbyes. If we cannot lengthen her time with us, we can fulfill her final wish - to spend her final days at home, with Jackson.

(Jackson, Charisse and Michelle venturing out of the apartment for ice-cream)

Financial Assistance

For more than a year, Michelle has shouldered the bulk of the financial, emotional and physical burden of cancer on her own. Unfortunately, she no longer has a choice. Michelle is no longer able to work and has not been able to for a while. And yet, social security is disputing her eligibility for long term disability benefits. Her only income comes from disability insurance payments that fail to cover her basic needs.

Since leaving work, Michelle’s Cobra health insurance premiums have risen to $1,370 a month and the high insurance deductible was reset to zero at the start of the year. This is the same insurance denying her hospice benefits due to the infusions prescribed to ease her symptoms and improve the quality of her remaining time. It is difficult to estimate how much is needed to cover expenses for ongoing caregiver services, let alone the deductibles and copays for her recent stay in ICU and her bi-weekly infusions.

The family is currently paying $3,528 per week for 12-hours of daytime in-home coverage. This is over $14,000 a month for just one of the two caregivers she requires. The family is taking shifts to supplement daytime coverage and her mother and sister have moved in to handle overnight care. At some point, Michelle will require 24-hour professional care and increasing medical costs as her symptoms progress. Regrettably, without insurance coverage Michelle and her family do not have the resources to cover everything. This is why we are asking for your support.

Our goal is to ease the financial stress on the family by raising at least $80,000. Your donations, regardless of size, will make a meaningful difference in Michelle’s care and remaining time with Jackson. As of now, your contributions will be used for

Any funds remaining will be deposited into a college fund for Jackson.

As difficult as it is to imagine, given Michelle’s surge of energy and engagement upon returning home from the hospital, she will not improve. And yet, she persists, refusing to give up. Every single day Michelle fights for one more hug from her son, one more laugh with her sister or brother, one more prank from her niece and nephews, one more joke aimed at her mother and one more day to share stories with friends and family.

Together, we can rally behind Michelle to fulfill her final wish of spending her remaining time at home with her son. Thank you for your kindness, empathy and support during this time.

***This fund is organized by Michelle's sister and primary caregiver, Charisse Thiel and Alyssa Englund, a friend of the family. Charisse is not only managing the daunting task of caring for her dying sister, she is sacrificing time with her daughter and husband who live three hours away. All donations will be deposited into an account managed by Charisse for the benefit of Michelle.

(Michelle and Charisse)