Help for Mick
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I am asking for donations for my beautiful sister who is fighting terminal cancer. Here is her story:
My sister Mickey is fighting the fight of her life right now. She battled breast cancer in 2012. She chose to have a double mastectomy, with the higher chance of it not recurring. She was lucky and never had to go through chemo.
Everything was going well and she felt fine, as she resumed working as a nurse at Evergreen Hospital. However, in September of 2014, Mickey was at a check-up with her Dr. and mentioned a pain she would get every so often in her stomach. After doing a blood test it was confirmed that she had cancer yet again, this time ovarian. Surgery was not an option at this point.
October 2014 she started her first round of Taxol Chemotherapy, to continue weekly. She had a rough time with sickness, fatigue, weight loss and hair loss, but she is a tough woman and she never let it bring her down. Always keeping her head held high and never showing that she was in pain or not feeling well.
Mickey had to stop working November 5th due to the side effects of the chemo and the intermitent severe pain. She started her leave of absence, fully intending to have surgery in December or January and return to work in February or March when her LOA ended. However, that was not to happen. The end of November she had a CT scan to see how the cancer was reacting. Unfortunately the results came back that the Chemo had stopped working, and the hopes of having surgery were deflated.
December 8th she was put on another round of a different Chemo. This new treatment wasn't making her as nauseous, and her hair was starting to grow back, but she would suffer uncomfortable and painful bouts of her stomach bloating terribly and would then have to go to the hospital to endure the painful process of having it drained.
Again we waited for months before she was able to have a CT scan to see if the cancer was shrinking. The news this time was devastating. The cancer was not only NOT shrinking, but it was growing. Still she remained strong and positive.
With vacation and sick leave used up, she went on short term disability through her employer, which provided 60% of her regular monthly income. By this time she had been out of work for 6 months. Her LOA was only effective for 3 months and then they had to let her go as per protocol. Short term disability had run out and long term disability had kicked in at 40% of her income.
Having used up all her savings, the money was getting to be a big worry, as well as the growing concern of her cancer. Mickey has been a Registered Nurse for 25+ years. She is used to being the caregiver to her patients with her calm and soothing way, but now the tables were turned.
She is now on her 3rd treatment of yet another Chemo. There aren't many more options for her as she has already tried them all. We are all praying that there will be a treatment for her soon, as she is running out of time. She has been fighting hard now for 8 months. The bills are piling up with no incoming income except what little she gets from disability.
Mickey has always been the primary breadwinner in her family. Her partner receives minimal Social Security Disability. She has spent countless hours filling out piles of paperwork for whatever help is available. She wanted to maintain her excellent medical coverage from her employer, so she went on COBRA. After 2 months it was obvious that this was financially impossible, so she is now on state insurance. She collects $16.00 a month in food stamps, and is awaiting final approval for Social Security Disability, which will again be 40% of her income, she is too young to retire.
It appeared that they could squeak by Social Security paying 30% and private long term disability paying 40% of her income, only to find out that the private insurance deducts any money received from Social Security, so her income total is 40% of her regular wage.
The bills continue to pile up and the rent on their small home they have lived in for several years has become too much to afford. Rick and I are doing everything we can to help them out any way we can, but the expenses are more than we can afford. Any help is greatly appreciated.
My sister Mickey is fighting the fight of her life right now. She battled breast cancer in 2012. She chose to have a double mastectomy, with the higher chance of it not recurring. She was lucky and never had to go through chemo.
Everything was going well and she felt fine, as she resumed working as a nurse at Evergreen Hospital. However, in September of 2014, Mickey was at a check-up with her Dr. and mentioned a pain she would get every so often in her stomach. After doing a blood test it was confirmed that she had cancer yet again, this time ovarian. Surgery was not an option at this point.
October 2014 she started her first round of Taxol Chemotherapy, to continue weekly. She had a rough time with sickness, fatigue, weight loss and hair loss, but she is a tough woman and she never let it bring her down. Always keeping her head held high and never showing that she was in pain or not feeling well.
Mickey had to stop working November 5th due to the side effects of the chemo and the intermitent severe pain. She started her leave of absence, fully intending to have surgery in December or January and return to work in February or March when her LOA ended. However, that was not to happen. The end of November she had a CT scan to see how the cancer was reacting. Unfortunately the results came back that the Chemo had stopped working, and the hopes of having surgery were deflated.
December 8th she was put on another round of a different Chemo. This new treatment wasn't making her as nauseous, and her hair was starting to grow back, but she would suffer uncomfortable and painful bouts of her stomach bloating terribly and would then have to go to the hospital to endure the painful process of having it drained.
Again we waited for months before she was able to have a CT scan to see if the cancer was shrinking. The news this time was devastating. The cancer was not only NOT shrinking, but it was growing. Still she remained strong and positive.
With vacation and sick leave used up, she went on short term disability through her employer, which provided 60% of her regular monthly income. By this time she had been out of work for 6 months. Her LOA was only effective for 3 months and then they had to let her go as per protocol. Short term disability had run out and long term disability had kicked in at 40% of her income.
Having used up all her savings, the money was getting to be a big worry, as well as the growing concern of her cancer. Mickey has been a Registered Nurse for 25+ years. She is used to being the caregiver to her patients with her calm and soothing way, but now the tables were turned.
She is now on her 3rd treatment of yet another Chemo. There aren't many more options for her as she has already tried them all. We are all praying that there will be a treatment for her soon, as she is running out of time. She has been fighting hard now for 8 months. The bills are piling up with no incoming income except what little she gets from disability.
Mickey has always been the primary breadwinner in her family. Her partner receives minimal Social Security Disability. She has spent countless hours filling out piles of paperwork for whatever help is available. She wanted to maintain her excellent medical coverage from her employer, so she went on COBRA. After 2 months it was obvious that this was financially impossible, so she is now on state insurance. She collects $16.00 a month in food stamps, and is awaiting final approval for Social Security Disability, which will again be 40% of her income, she is too young to retire.
It appeared that they could squeak by Social Security paying 30% and private long term disability paying 40% of her income, only to find out that the private insurance deducts any money received from Social Security, so her income total is 40% of her regular wage.
The bills continue to pile up and the rent on their small home they have lived in for several years has become too much to afford. Rick and I are doing everything we can to help them out any way we can, but the expenses are more than we can afford. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Organizer and beneficiary
Toni Jensen
Organizer
Marysville, WA
Laurie Byrne
Beneficiary