Susan Stariha's Medical Expenses

Susan was first diagnosed in February of 2006 with head/neck cancer, which came in the form of a large tumor under her tongue. She had to have surgery called radical neck dissection, which was to remove the tumor and to remove all of the glands through her neck and down into her shoulders. As she recalls, 21 glands were removed. Out of the 21 glands, 2 of them were positive for cancer. As a result of that, she had to undergo chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation treatments. After a long process of healing from all of that, she was cancer free for a long time.
In November of 2013, another tumor appeared in her mouth, deep down under her tongue. Susan was refered at that time to University of Minnesota. She had a wonderful ears, nose and throat specialist who removed that tumor in December of 2013. She had a skin graft taken from her leg to try to replace the removal of the tissue in her mouth. As a result of the previous radiation treatment, Susan never healed properly from that surgery. The skin graft attached in all but one small spot, under her tongue, along her jaw line next to her lower back teeth. That has left her with exposed bone along her jawline.
She has doctored with that problem at the University and in Duluth for a year and a half now. More surgery was done to try to heal that one spot, but nothing has worked.
Then, during this last year, she ended up with a disease called Osteoradionecrossis, which basically, if you get right down to it, was a result of having had the radiation years ago, and then having the cancerous tumor removed, which left the opening along her jaw line. In simple terms, what this disease does is kill the jaw bone, a small portion at a time, until your whole jaw is nothing but dead bone. The mouth/jaw pain from this disease is indescribable! Her teeth have shifted, as she goes along, and are now actually falling out and then shifting some more. The teeth that are still there are very loose. She cannot really even chew and hasn't been able to for some time. She is mostly eating soft food and drinks alot of milk and now finally, alot of ensure. She has endured this pain for a long time and is now finally having jaw replacement surgery. There really is nothing else that can be done. Most, or all, of her bottom jaw will be removed and replaced with a metal bar, which will be covered with skin and tissue from her mouth, as long as that tissue is healthy enough to use and hold. She was given the option of using live bone out of her leg, but because of the previous radiation treatments, she does not believe that would heal properly either, so she has opted to use the metal.

Surgery will finally be this Tuesday, July 21st, at the University of Minnesota - Fairview in Minneapolis.

Please keep Sue and Hannah in your thoughts and prayers! Recovery could be lengthy and painful, and even any small donation towards holding on to her home, travel and medical expenses, etc., would be so helpful and appreciated during this difficult time.
Thank you!!