Ronnie and Roy Need Your Help!

Team fundraiser

Jennifer DeHerrera and Danielle Sanchez are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Veronica (Ronnie).

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Veronica Ramirez has been through an awful lot since 2013. Below the summary is an account of all she’s been through so far, if you’d like to read it. Warning: Some of the images are a bit graphic, but this is what she went through.

Summary: The reason for this fundraiser is that she is unable to work currently. Between the recent emergency hospitalization where she coded and crashed 3 or 4 times, had to have a feeding tube placed, an emergency tracheostomy, as well as a central PIC line and finding out right before Christmas that her cancer is back again, she cannot work. Her hubby (he is caring for her), has had to miss a significant amount of work as well so their medical bills are already rolling in along with their mortgage and utilities. She will need $8,000,-$10,000 to make a dent but any amount will help. Thank you!

Ronnies’s Story:

IT'S CANCER

My Aunt noticed a bump on the left-side of her neck in 2013. It wasn't huge, but it was noticeable. Her daughters were concerned and talked her into getting it checked out. At first her doc didn't seem too worried about it, thinking it might be a cyst, he prescribed an antibiotic and sent her home. That didn't seem to clear it up so she went and saw an ear nose and throat doctor who after seeing a woman in very good health otherwise also thought it might be a cyst or swollen gland. He too prescribed some antibiotics and sent her home. After some persistence from her daughters she followed back up with the ENT who then recommended that she have some imaging testing done of the area to be safe. When those test results came back they told her that she had a very aggressive form of cancer (they weren't sure exactly what type until they ran further tests). They were telling her that it was stage 3/4 and her doctors were foreseeing a tough fight. As scared as we all were for her, she herself was beyond terrified. Thankfully she has a very strong faith in God and a good support system of friends and family who all love her very much that helped her through the beginning of this ordeal.

A DIAGNOSES

She was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Cancer of the tonsil and lymph nodes. We were all thankful that A PET scan showed the cancer had not spread anywhere else in her body besides her left tonsil and all of the lymph glands on the left side of her neck. A surgery was quickly scheduled and she went under the knife to have the cancerous tissue removed. Even though the surgeon felt quite confident that he was able to remove much of the cancerous cells, her pathology reports showed that she would need radiation and chemotherapy; all of her doctors agreed that this was the best course considering this type of cancer is aggressive and her lymph nodes were involved.

CANCER FREE, OR SO WE THOUGHT

After months of treatments and lots of test she was finally cancer free May 24, 2013. It was a miracle and we were all so thankful for all the crowdfunding that helped her afford her cancer treatments and all the prayers that helped her through the major sickness that came with all those treatments and a final result of being in remission. She had 2 blissful cancer-free years before finding another lump on her jaw in October 2015.

IT'S BACK

In early October 2015 Ronnie noticed a sore puffy bump on her jaw. She hoped it was nothing but to be safe she had it checked out. She had had a clean CT Scan in January so her doctors felt confident it was likely nothing major. On October 19th she got the test results back and it was confirmed that her worst fears had come true, it was back. The doctors were hopeful that it was localized. The diagnosis was that it was a very aggressive cancer. She needed chemo and radiation again (38 rounds) and this meant she was not able to work during that time. After all the treatments she got the news that she was again in remission and the cancer looked to be gone. Unfortunately it came back a little over a year later.

IT'S BACK AGAIN AND INOPERABLE WITH A BAD PROGNOSIS

January of 2017 Ronnie noticed that her tongue was swelling so she made an appointment with her radiologist. They ordered an MRI the week of January 8th and saw a mass so she was scheduled for a biopsy January 20th. After Doctor Rothman did the biopsy he came out and told her family the terrible news that no one wants to hear, that the cancer is back, that it's inoperable, aggressive, and that the prognosis is bad. The cancer had spread down throughout her tongue to the base of her throat and was wrapped around her carotid artery. Her doctor said they couldn't do radiation this time because they could not surgically remove any of the cancer and her body was still very weak from the last fight. She had a follow up with her cancer doctors Tuesday January 24th where they came up with a treatment plan to help give her a little more time hopefully to spend with her family and to potentially slow the cancer's progression. They didn't have a lot of hope but her daughter reached out to CTCA and that’s when she started her journey with the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

For the last 2 years through amazing doctors, nurses, miraculous treatments, good nutrition, and God’s mercy she had improved and beat cancer yet again, against all the odds. A true miracle!

SOMETHING IS WRONG AGAIN

She struggled over the last year to keep weight on her as eating was painful from all the deterioration to her throat and esophagus from treatments. She had to be admitted to CTCA due to a bad fungal infection of her throat and tongue and once they thought they had that under control they sent her home.

Unfortunately a week or so later she was doing so poorly that her husband had to call an ambulance to rush her to the hospital. They weren’t sure what all was going on but she had pneumonia and wasn’t able to eat. They placed a feeding tube in her nose and started treatments for the infection and she seemed to start improving. That’s when all hell broke loose.

She started bleeding profusely from her nose and mouth. So much so she couldn’t breathe. Her daughters were having to suction blood and tissue from her as the nurses and doctors at this hospital seemed unconcerned by this new terrifying symptom and weren't helping much. She would start bleeding so much that two of her daughters and her husband were having to try to clear her airway by hand. She was aware for all of this and truly suffering and terrified. A section of her tongue had also started to die.

Due to some HUGE mistakes made by this original hospital and their unwillingness to listen to her daughters, they attempted to transport her to a hospital better equipped to handle this unknown bleed. Her daughter Hope asked that they would consider placing a tracheostomy so that they could get her oxygen if necessary on the trip over but both the ER doctor and the ENT felt that was unnecessary. Against her daughters’ wishes, they placed her in an ambulance with no way to get her O2 if she started bleeding again as she could not be able to be intubated. She did start bleeding, unfortunately, and she had to be rushed back to the original hospital where they had to preform an emergency tracheostomy so she could breathe. She coded and crashed several times during this. They almost lost her; her family said their goodbyes because they thought this was the end. This hospital got her stabilized and up to OR to properly place the trach. Then they transferred her to the better hospital.

The new hospital was wonderful to her. They got her up and moving, placed a proper feeding tube into her belly, got a PIC line to be sure she’s getting fluids and her meds, found the bleed and resolved it, and cleaned up the mess that the other hospital caused. They released her to go home after a few weeks but she was on home healthcare and therapies to try to get her on her feet again so she could hopefully get back to work.

Veronica improved enough to start eating some foods by mouth again slowly and she started to regain strength. She was able to attend church with her family and seemed to be on the road to recovery. Because of her fragile state, CTCA decided to hold back on her Keytruda treatments until she improved enough to start them again because she has to travel to have the treatment as well.

THE CANCER IS BACK

Ronnie woke up one morning before Christmas with what felt like a bug bite on the right side of her neck. She decided to have it checked out. Her doc wasn’t super concerned but because of her history they ran all the tests. Unfortunately they found it was cancer. She has to immediately go back onto Keytruda and will likely be on this the rest of her life. Hopefully between this and what CTCA has planned, they will get this cancer in remission again. In the meantime, she and her hubby could use some financial support to pay for the mounting medical bills and everyday costs like utilities that they are falling behind on because she was hospitalized and cannot work.