My Mom Janine's End of Life Costs

My mother, Janine, is only 61 years old. Until this point in her life, she had never suffered from any substantial health problems or required any surgical procedures.

She spent the last weeks of this August attempting to fight off what she thought was a UTI. She declined to the point that a visit to Urgent Care was deemed necessary on September 1st. She left the clinic the first time with a prescription for antibiotics and AZO to treat what was still an assumed to be a UTI. She took the prescribed medication as directed, but much to her dismay, she saw no results, and the issue persisted. A decision was made to return to Urgent Care for a second time, and this time a CT scan revealed a large fibroid tumor in her uterus, in addition to an obstruction of her bladder. An appointment with a Urologist was made. An ultrasound of her bladder revealed some sort of problematic obstruction, and a biopsy was taken to find out more information, and she was sent home to wait for the results that would come a week later. Things worsened up to the follow-up with her Urologist on the 20th when we were told the biopsy results were NOT cancer but instead turned out to be a "rare cystic infection." During this visit at the Urologist, I informed the doctor of her worsening symptoms. He responded by insisting she go to the ER immediately to treat what had become dangerous dehydration. In the midst of renal failure and hydronephrosis, she was operated on to perform a urethral diversion. She would leave the hospital 3 or 4 days later with nephrostomy tubes in each kidney in addition to a Foley Catheter. One week later, her Urologist revealed a mistake had been made in diagnosing the biopsy from her bladder, which was indeed Cancer.

On October 3rd, Janine saw an Oncologist for the first time and was diagnosed with Stage 3 Bladder Cancer, with a high likelihood of it having already aggressively spread elsewhere. She was given less than a year to live.

We believe there is still a fight left worth fighting, but with her fixed $700 per month income, it is not the least bit financially feasible considering she lives with my fiancé and me, and I have had to quit my job to become her full-time caregiver. It has become impossible to pay rent and bills, especially with the addition of the costly medicines needed to fight this fast-spreading, highly aggressive cancer. Since the end of August, she has dropped approximately 45lbs in weight, and her level of misery and agony is hyper-evident.

Please find it within your hearts to help us to whatever extent personally possible. The cost is seemingly growing daily, as is the associated ball of debt