Mom vs. Medical Bills

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Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States

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Photo Album: Mom’s Cancer Journey

This is never an easy thing to do, ask for money or even ask for help. Another thing that is not easy is to hear, “your Mom has cancer”. I know some of you may know and others may not. My mother, Debra Edwards was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer on January 8, 2018. After trying to get a diagnosis for well over a year, we finally had one.

My Mom has been suffering from severe back pain and cramping for about two years. At first she suffered through it as she didn’t have medical insurance. She was trying whatever homeopathic solution she could find to get her to the 2017 open enrollment window for the ACA. In 2017 we got her an appointment with any specialist we could get her in with. Starting with an OBGYN, to an Orthopedic, then a Urologist, and another OBGYN, two Emergency room visits. Countless tests; CT Scans, Sonograms (internal and external), x-rays, MRIs, blood work – NO DIAGNOSES.

Open enrollment for 2018 comes around and she receives a letter that her insurance company is leaving the ACA Marketplace. We do research to find out the only option is a $700/ mo premium with a $7500 deductible. Feeling defeated she made the decision to go through 2018 without insurance.

Finally mid-December, the Urologist sees a cyst in a scan that appears to be on her ovary and pressing on her kidney. He does his job, tells us her back pain is likely being caused by the cyst pushing on her kidneys. This also has now caused her kidneys to not function properly, so she now needs a stent. He was amazing and made sure he could get her in for surgery before she ran out of insurance.

December 21, 2017 they put in the stent. We were hoping the stent would help relieve some pain for her. We knew we would have to take care of the cyst and it would probably be out of pocket in 2018. Well… January 2, 2018 she texts me that she is in terrible pain and something didn’t feel quite right. The nurse at the new OBGYN office suggested we get her to the hospital and that her doctor just happened to be on site all day. Within an hour of being at the Hospital we find out she has multiple blood clots in her leg, probably from having the stent put in. They start her on blood thinners and give her medicine to help with the pain.

She spent 3 days in the hospital this time around and her OBGYN came in for a consultation where he told her that he wanted her to see someone more equipped to deal with her cyst. So she was referred to an OBGYN Oncologist in Richmond. From here everything has moved in a weird daze of fast forward and slow motion virtual reality.

January 8, 2018 – My parents spent 8 hours in Richmond meeting the new doctor, having blood work and more scans done, and then the consultation that told them that my Mom has Ovarian Cancer. Normally when you are diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer the first defense is to operate, remove the cancer or as much as they can. Well since my Mom is on blood thinners for the blood clots, surgery right now isn’t an option. Our first line of defense is Chemotherapy.

January 12th she had a port implanted in her chest and on January 17th she had her first Chemo infusion. Chemotherapy is scheduled to take place every 21 days. The hope is that we can keep the cancer from spreading until she is able to be off blood thinners and have the tumor removed. This cyst that we thought was going to be a little surgery to take care of is now a tumor the size of a grapefruit. So now the battle begins!

There is nothing easy about this as most of you have known someone that has fought this fight. I wanted to start this fundraiser of course to get financial assistance for my Mom, but also I wanted to be able to document her journey and share it with our loved ones. I can’t reach out to each and every one of you to update you on how she is doing so this is where I will give medical updates and just let you know she is still fighting and that we all appreciate the love and support we have already begun to receive.

The money received will go directly to the medical bills that have already started to pile up. No one should have to worry about money when they are fighting for their lives. On behalf of my Mom and my family, THANK YOU!

Laurie Boyd

6 years ago

$25

Sharon Rice

6 years ago

$50

Debbie Simpson

6 years ago

$50

Christian Zammas

6 years ago

$25

April Sayler

6 years ago

$25

Megan Noonan

6 years ago

$50

Lennon Gerogosian

6 years ago

$25

Sarah Bouchard

6 years ago

$25

Christine Gerogosian

April Sayler