Single Mom Fighting for her Life
Donation protected
SINGLE MOM IS FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE
Child advocate and single mom of son with special needs has advanced stage 4 lung cancer and desperately needs your help.
Sandra E. has dedicated her life to the well-being of children. She began her journey decades ago when she opened a national model for comprehensive child care which she ran before moving to New York City to start another non-profit with a mission to ensure safe, green, inspiring environments for children; its guidance has reached millions and The New York Times identified it as the pioneering voice in the field of design for children.
Always the child advocate, 10 years ago she made the brave decision as a single woman to adopt a child. Her son came days after birth from the hospital, with neurological injuries he had sustained in utero that still place a burden on his learning and development. She's had to fight every step to protect his rights: 5-day-a-week early intervention therapies to countless hours seeking out specialists and educational programming. Through tireless effort, her son has just remarkably begun a hard-won public school for intellectually gifted children. His special needs will need even more support in this rigorous setting so Sandra must be here to continue the battle for the understanding and educational supports he needs. Those of us who know him, know he is an extraordinary child full of exciting potential...and Sandra's greatest joy. But single parenting any child can be exhausting, even under favorable conditions, and their current circumstances are now anything but optimal.
Today, Sandra is fighting for her life because in February of this year she was diagnosed with advanced Stage 4 Lung Cancer, a shocking diagnosis for someone who is a non-smoker and has always been a picture of health.
She was thankfully accepted at the esteemed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. Her doctors there informed her how powerful and aggressive the cancer inside her body is. It had spread to 5 places before even being symptomatic – lungs (inoperable), pleura, adrenals, bone, & brain -- the cancer in her brain was discovered to have grown 20% in those first 10 days at Dana-Farber. Suddenly, she couldn't stand or walk; the tumors had invaded the balance center of her brain. Due to the outstanding medical staff at Dana-Farber and their groundbreaking treatments, and partnering with the neurosurgical team at Brigham & Women’s hospital, Sandra underwent an emergency brain surgery, which kept her hospitalized for a month, but has made chemo an available option to give her a fighting chance to save her life -- a gift she can never thank the staff at both hospitals enough for.
She is also grateful that her doctors cleared her to be able to take her son home again after so many months of treatment in Boston. An amazing targeted chemotherapy pill she takes daily made it possible...but it has suddenly stopped working, after a dramatic initial reduction in the tumor growth, and so treatment is being revised based on new test results soon expected. This is an unexpected setback, but one that has only redoubled Sandra's resolve to fight this surprise illness.
For someone who is battling a life-threatening and sometimes debilitating disease, Sandra never acts as though dying is even an option. She has every intention of parenting her young son for many years and plans to continue her exceptional design advocacy for children.
She is also grateful for the emotional support she has received from family and friends, sustaining her spirit.
The problem – the challenge – is how to handle the incredible high medical-related costs which are not covered by insurance. Her unpaid medical bills alone are reaching $20,000, and since she is currently living a thousand miles away, she must fly back to Boston to see her doctors every 2-3 months in order to assess the effectiveness of the cutting-edge therapy she is receiving as a result of DNA Sequencing.
Some of the medicines and rehab she still needs post-surgery are not covered by insurance, so she has that enormous cost plus the transportation to and living costs in Boston, this in addition to daily living costs to keep a roof over her head for herself and her son, food on the table, and her son in school, not to mention a dramatic loss of income.
Despite experiencing pain and other side effects, the only thing she ever thinks of is her son’s welfare. Her greatest fear is leaving him all alone and that drives her to fight even harder. That’s a true mother’s love.
So, in addition to needing financial help with medical bills for the continuation of her rehab and treatment at Dana-Farber, she would like to be able to get counseling support (not covered by his insurance) so her young son can deal with his mother’s cancer, specifically with his understandable anxiety that she might die. Needless to say, this intense worry is also burdening his adjustment to the gifted school. As is his awareness of the change in his family's finances. Their "new normal" is not the optimal environment Sandra has always fought to provide for the son she loves so dearly.
Each trip to Dana-Farber is between $3,500-$4,500. Mounting medical costs are harder to estimate; a main concern here is that even if her chemo drugs continue to manage her cancer, insurance has already raised a red flag saying the drug is only authorized thru November … and Sandra knows all too well that this wonder pill that has been saving her life is not only one of the most potent drugs on the planet but comes with a matching pricetag. And the next, newer one may cost even more. Not surprising given the fact that she is fighting the deadliest cancer, costs her insurer has covered now exceed three-quarters of a million dollars in just these few short months. She has no way to step in and take over such astronomical costs.
Sandra has depleted her savings with this medical treatment and stresses over the point in the very foreseeable future when she may not even have the ability to feed her son.
Stress – codified by research as a primary variable between those who survive cancer and those who don't – could dramatically setback the progress Sandra has made with her treatment. And this may be the case now. Sandra doesn't have much of her signature hair left, but she is full of determination.
As her friends (and friends of her friends), we can all give even a small amount to help this strong woman beat the odds ... as we know she will!
Vice President Joe Biden is now setting up protocals to put enormous resources behind cures for cancer. We need to help fund Sandra's expenses so her life can be extended long enough to take advantage of the progress that will surely come from this new infusion of capital into cancer research.
Even if you only can spare $5, that would be a tremendous help -- that is, if we can get enough people to do that. Pass this link on! As those at Dana-Farber agree, hers is a compelling story (one that led the CEO to take a personal interest) and her fighting spirit an exemplary one! So please mine your networks to spread this cry for help and significantly broaden the base for support.
We, then, have the power to not only change, but SAVE this woman life indefinitely.
Let’s join together to take her stress away and let her only focus be on getting better and helping her 10-year old son cope with her illness. With patients like her, and the remarkable research her doctors are doing, there is a real possibility of reversing her original terminal diagnosis, or at least extending her life for a number of years so that medical research will have time to create additional cures for Sandra's kind of cancer.
And her child can grow through these vitally important childhood years into adulthood in her loving care.
Child advocate and single mom of son with special needs has advanced stage 4 lung cancer and desperately needs your help.
Sandra E. has dedicated her life to the well-being of children. She began her journey decades ago when she opened a national model for comprehensive child care which she ran before moving to New York City to start another non-profit with a mission to ensure safe, green, inspiring environments for children; its guidance has reached millions and The New York Times identified it as the pioneering voice in the field of design for children.
Always the child advocate, 10 years ago she made the brave decision as a single woman to adopt a child. Her son came days after birth from the hospital, with neurological injuries he had sustained in utero that still place a burden on his learning and development. She's had to fight every step to protect his rights: 5-day-a-week early intervention therapies to countless hours seeking out specialists and educational programming. Through tireless effort, her son has just remarkably begun a hard-won public school for intellectually gifted children. His special needs will need even more support in this rigorous setting so Sandra must be here to continue the battle for the understanding and educational supports he needs. Those of us who know him, know he is an extraordinary child full of exciting potential...and Sandra's greatest joy. But single parenting any child can be exhausting, even under favorable conditions, and their current circumstances are now anything but optimal.
Today, Sandra is fighting for her life because in February of this year she was diagnosed with advanced Stage 4 Lung Cancer, a shocking diagnosis for someone who is a non-smoker and has always been a picture of health.
She was thankfully accepted at the esteemed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. Her doctors there informed her how powerful and aggressive the cancer inside her body is. It had spread to 5 places before even being symptomatic – lungs (inoperable), pleura, adrenals, bone, & brain -- the cancer in her brain was discovered to have grown 20% in those first 10 days at Dana-Farber. Suddenly, she couldn't stand or walk; the tumors had invaded the balance center of her brain. Due to the outstanding medical staff at Dana-Farber and their groundbreaking treatments, and partnering with the neurosurgical team at Brigham & Women’s hospital, Sandra underwent an emergency brain surgery, which kept her hospitalized for a month, but has made chemo an available option to give her a fighting chance to save her life -- a gift she can never thank the staff at both hospitals enough for.
She is also grateful that her doctors cleared her to be able to take her son home again after so many months of treatment in Boston. An amazing targeted chemotherapy pill she takes daily made it possible...but it has suddenly stopped working, after a dramatic initial reduction in the tumor growth, and so treatment is being revised based on new test results soon expected. This is an unexpected setback, but one that has only redoubled Sandra's resolve to fight this surprise illness.
For someone who is battling a life-threatening and sometimes debilitating disease, Sandra never acts as though dying is even an option. She has every intention of parenting her young son for many years and plans to continue her exceptional design advocacy for children.
She is also grateful for the emotional support she has received from family and friends, sustaining her spirit.
The problem – the challenge – is how to handle the incredible high medical-related costs which are not covered by insurance. Her unpaid medical bills alone are reaching $20,000, and since she is currently living a thousand miles away, she must fly back to Boston to see her doctors every 2-3 months in order to assess the effectiveness of the cutting-edge therapy she is receiving as a result of DNA Sequencing.
Some of the medicines and rehab she still needs post-surgery are not covered by insurance, so she has that enormous cost plus the transportation to and living costs in Boston, this in addition to daily living costs to keep a roof over her head for herself and her son, food on the table, and her son in school, not to mention a dramatic loss of income.
Despite experiencing pain and other side effects, the only thing she ever thinks of is her son’s welfare. Her greatest fear is leaving him all alone and that drives her to fight even harder. That’s a true mother’s love.
So, in addition to needing financial help with medical bills for the continuation of her rehab and treatment at Dana-Farber, she would like to be able to get counseling support (not covered by his insurance) so her young son can deal with his mother’s cancer, specifically with his understandable anxiety that she might die. Needless to say, this intense worry is also burdening his adjustment to the gifted school. As is his awareness of the change in his family's finances. Their "new normal" is not the optimal environment Sandra has always fought to provide for the son she loves so dearly.
Each trip to Dana-Farber is between $3,500-$4,500. Mounting medical costs are harder to estimate; a main concern here is that even if her chemo drugs continue to manage her cancer, insurance has already raised a red flag saying the drug is only authorized thru November … and Sandra knows all too well that this wonder pill that has been saving her life is not only one of the most potent drugs on the planet but comes with a matching pricetag. And the next, newer one may cost even more. Not surprising given the fact that she is fighting the deadliest cancer, costs her insurer has covered now exceed three-quarters of a million dollars in just these few short months. She has no way to step in and take over such astronomical costs.
Sandra has depleted her savings with this medical treatment and stresses over the point in the very foreseeable future when she may not even have the ability to feed her son.
Stress – codified by research as a primary variable between those who survive cancer and those who don't – could dramatically setback the progress Sandra has made with her treatment. And this may be the case now. Sandra doesn't have much of her signature hair left, but she is full of determination.
As her friends (and friends of her friends), we can all give even a small amount to help this strong woman beat the odds ... as we know she will!
Vice President Joe Biden is now setting up protocals to put enormous resources behind cures for cancer. We need to help fund Sandra's expenses so her life can be extended long enough to take advantage of the progress that will surely come from this new infusion of capital into cancer research.
Even if you only can spare $5, that would be a tremendous help -- that is, if we can get enough people to do that. Pass this link on! As those at Dana-Farber agree, hers is a compelling story (one that led the CEO to take a personal interest) and her fighting spirit an exemplary one! So please mine your networks to spread this cry for help and significantly broaden the base for support.
We, then, have the power to not only change, but SAVE this woman life indefinitely.
Let’s join together to take her stress away and let her only focus be on getting better and helping her 10-year old son cope with her illness. With patients like her, and the remarkable research her doctors are doing, there is a real possibility of reversing her original terminal diagnosis, or at least extending her life for a number of years so that medical research will have time to create additional cures for Sandra's kind of cancer.
And her child can grow through these vitally important childhood years into adulthood in her loving care.
Organizer
The Friends of Sandra Medical Fund
Organizer
Sarasota, FL