so don't ask if you don't want to know
Family status update
You might remember my niece Brittany and her struggle with Melanoma, Lung Cancer and various other issues. Back in July we thought we’d lose her but she rallied and continued treatment. The doctors ran out of chemo and radiation options and moved on to immune therapy, which she just completed. Over last weekend she was so sick she ended up in the local hospital. She couldn’t move her legs and they found something wrong with a vertebra plus spots on her liver so she was transferred by ambulance to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.
In the meantime my daughter-in-law Krystal was diagnosed with stage 2 cervical cancer and she’s been going to Cancer Treatment Centers of America over in Goodyear since December. She’s not handling this well at all, her digestive tract is stopped up, she’s constantly nauseated and her usual snarky attitude is gone – replaced with alternating whining and crying with a touch of outright bitch. I don’t blame her, honestly. Her mom comes up from El Paso when she can and I accompany her when her mom can’t.
With this all going on it was a difficult decision but I’m leaving on Friday to go to Florida. Krystal has her mom to help her and Brittany is running out of time. I’ve reserved a rental mini-van for my crew – Ginnie, Jack, Casey, Kira and hopefully Max are going with me so my car just isn’t big enough. But we don’t have a lot of money.
IF you have a mini-van and you’d let me borrow it, let me know. IF you want to help us out financially that would be awesome. There’s a paypal button on this site on my podcast producer page.
I just want to hug my niece before it’s too late. I want her to meet Jack and have our family back together one more time. I can’t wait anymore. Time is running out. She’s had a year longer than the doctor’s originally gave her so she’s living on borrowed time.
We’ll be gone until the 17th. I’ve posted about a benefit for Krystal on the 23rd on Facebook. Hopefully the girls who are running this do a lot better than the benefit we held for Brittany last May. Go check that out and see if you can find the time to attend. It’ll be fun!
It’s just shit luck that these two young women that I care so much about have cancer. I wish I could do more but it is what it is. We are all being supportive and doing what we can and sticking together as a family… hoping for the best.
*sigh*
—Edited—
I’ll tell you what, I have awesome friends. Thanks guys! I’ll pay you back as soon as I can. Every little bit of help takes my stress level down that much.
Thank you so much.
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How much money would be useful, practically?
I can take out a title loan on my car for $1000 and the rental car is $587. We have a place to stay when we’re there. We can pack snackage so there’s no real eating on the road so there’s just gas money. I’m pretty sure I have it covered but the rest of the month is iffy. So… whatever people feel comfortable contributing? Every litter bit helps.
Please drive safely. You and the kids need to get to Florida to see Brittany and then back to Phoenix to Krystal.
Bruce and I are thinking of all of you.