You can help by donating to this Youcaring site,
http://www.youcaring.com/Fefightscancer
-My mom, my bestfriend, my hero.-
This is my mom, Fe. She turns 60 this August.
She's a selfless mom who spent her waking hours taking care of everyone. Even at our 30s, knowing how absent-minded we are, she still took care of most things for us, making sure our personal and professional responsibilities were all covered.
She's one of the most generous person I know, generous with her time, service, care and love. She's done so much for us and it pains me seeing her go through this battle.
The strong woman I know who was always up and about taking care of others is now mostly confined to the bed because of the pain and discomfort.
It's time we give her the care she long deserved, and money shouldn't be limit.
-Diagnosed-
November 2015, she was diagnosed with stage IV colo-rectal cancer which has metastasized to her liver and lung.
She underwent surgery last December 1, 2015 to remove the tumor obstructing her bowel, but her liver was unresectable due to multiple tumors on all lobes.
She was still recovering from the 6-hour surgery but had to start chemotherapy come January 2016.
The 10-day hospital bill reached almost 300,000php ($6,522) excluding doctor's professional fees.
-Emergency hospitalization-
February came and she had to be hospitalized due to a swollen right leg, which turned out to be a DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Her oncologist wanted an IVC filter put in to prevent clots from travelling to her lungs which could be fatal, but then a last minute ultrasound showed blood clots in her IVC, which renders a filter useless, thus the procedure was cancelled.
She was then put under observation for 5 days while given heparin and warfarin (anticoagulants) to help manage the clots. The unplanned 5-day hospital stay was 100,000php ($2,173) off the pocket.
She's been advised to continue taking blood thinners which requires her to get a PT/PTT test (test that checks how long it takes for the blood to clot) done every 5 days.
-Chemotherapy-
She's been on 2 cycles of chemotherapy (5FU) since January but upon a recent CEA tumor marker test, her CEA count spiked 3x from 998 to 3105.
The oncologist ordered another CT scan to use as a baseline before starting her on a new combination chemo drug, the scan showed that her liver now had more tumors than normal cells.
For her chemotherapy treatment alone, it was 35,000php ($760) off the pocket every month. And since the initial (5FU) chemotherapy did not work, we are switching to a combination drug, FOLFOX which is almost double the cost.
She'll be having the FOLFOX infusion once every 2 weeks, it approximately costs 34,000php ($740) per session.
-We need your support-
Being her 24/7 caregiver, it had been difficult to accommodate orders (handmade invitations) as I have to make sure I am always available on her chemotherapy schedules, emergency hospital visits and everything else in between. Taking care of her has been my fulltime responsibility since diagnosed.
My brother is a freelance architect and does part time insurance and investment sales which requires him to be out and about in meetings and site visits. My dad on the other hand is retired, he's the one who goes to the market and takes care of the meals alongside other chores (we don't have a household helper).
Even with the generosity of relatives and friends, who's chipped in for mom's treatment and hospitalization expense, we are running short of funds for her upcoming treatments.
She's dedicated so much of her life to us, the best we can do is make sure she gets the necessary treatments without having to stress about the finances.
Without a family history of cancer, we were emotionally and financially not ready for this. But we are taking it one day at a time as a family.
-How you can help-
Any amount raised from this campaign will fund mom's chemotherapy treatment, routine laboratory tests and scans, medications, and other miscellaneous bills.
There is no such thing as a small donation, every bit of it will help support her in this ongoing battle.
You can donate your statuses on Facebook by sharing this campaign to your friends and family.
You may also give your time by saying a prayer for my mom when you read this.
Please help us cheer her on.
We are truly humbled by this experience, we believe God is in control and that He has been with us since day one.
We thank you in advance and hope that you will be blessed just as we are blessed by your hearts to give and help.
