New Poster

[loriandericb]

First I'd like to start out by saying that the day I stumbled across Free To Breathe is the day that I finally felt informed and found some REAL answers to my questions. THANK YOU for starting this wonderful website! My mom was diagnosed about 3 months ago with stage IIIA non small cell lung cancer that has spindle cells (Doctors say its quite rare). Her cancer is spreading very fast and before she even had her first chemo treatment it had spread to her liver putting her in stage IV. Her first chemo treatment went pretty well..that is no sickness just tired more than usual. After her second round of chemo she ended up in the hospital for 5 days. She refused to eat or drink and was on the verge of dehydration. After a PET scan and a brain scan the results were poor. The tumors on her liver had grown and there are more of them so the chemo isn't working for her and her brain scan came back cancer free however they saw that she has been having mini strokes so the Doctors have decided to not continue anymore chemo. I live in Georgia and she is in Michigan and I am planning on leaving Sunday (me and my 2 children) and going up to spend a week or so with her. Does anyone know of any organization that can help me with traveling expenses? I am a waitress and this is a very slow time for us and I really cannot afford, financially to make this trip, however I can not afford NOT to go. I NEED to see my mom. I will be staying with my sister when I get there so no need for hotel expenses just gas for the car to get there and back. I plan on packing a cooler with some food and my sister will feed us while we are there. ANyone know of any organization that would help me with gas money to go and see my mom and my children to see their grandmother? Any suggestions would be great...and PLEASE I am in no way asking anyone in this community for financial help only point me in the right direction on where to look for help. Again thank you for this website and all the free information you offer. You are truly a blessing to me and my family and I'm sure to many many others. God Bless you! The picture is of my mom and dad last Christmas before this nightmare began.

[LORBIC]

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom, I will keep her and the family in prayer. I don't know of any organizations unless the church can do it. If you had more time I would say a Go Fund me Page but not sure that will help in short time.

[GailO]

You might want to contact your nearest American Cancer Society. They often help with transportation.

Best of luck.

[FtB_Peggy]

Good morning,

Thank you for reaching out to us, and for sharing that beautiful picture.

You might want to try going to cancerfac.org and seeing what resources you can find there. Also, call 211- that's right, you just dial 211 like you would 911 - (it is the number for United Way) and they have staff that can tell you what resources are available in your area, you just tell them what you are looking for, hopefully they'll have some ideas. And, also, like LORBIC mentioned, churches are often willing to help if they know about your situation.

Best of luck to you and yours and travel safely. Let us know how things are going for your family. Is your Mom thinking of looking at clinical trials at all?

I am so very sorry for all that you are going through right now. Please keep in touch.