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Nina Blum Cancer Fund

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PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT NINA DIRECTLY, as she needs to rest and we do not want to overwhelm her!  Feel free to contact her daughter Selby.  Thank you.

In the Fall of 2017, Nina was diagnosed with an extremely painful type of cancer called Cholangiocarcinoma (Stage 4), with tumors on her liver.  In the beginning, she tried several types of chemotherapy, which made her very ill and permanently damaged her body.  She also tried a procedure called Radioembolization (the insertion of tiny, painful, glass radiation beads into the tumors) at City Of Hope, but this treatment did not work as planned to reduce the size of the tumors.  The tumors spread to her sacrum, but Nina was still able to walk her daughter down the aisle at her wedding in October of 2018, creating beautiful memories for the family.  When the chemotherapy was no longer keeping her stable, she began immunotherapy.  Even though the immunotherapy triggered her autoimmune disease, making her sicker, she refused to quit.  At this point she was considered stable again. Her situation drastically changed when the tumors fractured the bone in her sacrum, in two places, and she began to experience excruciating pain. Over the span of 2 months, she lost her ability to walk, sit, and lay on her back.  In early August of 2019, she went to the hospital for a sacroplasty surgery (filling the fractures with cement) and an epidural in an attempt to reduce her pain.  Not only was the surgery unsuccessful, but her pain has continued to quickly increase ever since.  Because of her immobility and pain, she finally had to stop immunotherapy, and will not be able to receive any further treatments.  

Nina began hospice care on Tuesday, August 20th.  The medical expenses up to this point have put her husband, Richard, and her daughter, Selby, under extreme financial stress.  Up until Tuesday, Richard has been caring for her 24/7, giving him no time to work, and leaving him exhausted.  She now requires professional 24-hour care, which is not covered by insurance and is extremely expensive.   Please help ease some of the family's financial burden during this terrible time by donating to help us with all of the medical expenses and the cost of care.  As difficult as this is to discuss, the family also needs to plan for the next steps, which are extremely costly as well.  We urgently need your help.

Nina is a beautiful person, inside and out.  She is a loving wife, daughter, friend, godmother, stepmother, mother-in-law, and an EXCEPTIONAL mother.  She is smart, quick-witted, sarcastic, loyal, protective, creative, hilarious, and overflowing with love.  There will never again be someone like Nina. 

She has spent a lifetime taking care of those around her, and putting them first.  Let's all take care of Nina, together.

Organizer

Selby Blum
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA

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