This is my daughter, Kendall. We call her Lulu. Lulu is 19 years old. In 2019, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her pelvic bone. Osteosarcoma is a rare bone cancer. Having it develop in the pelvis is even rarer. For 6 and a half years, she has fought valiantly. She endured a 16-hour surgery to remove her left pelvic bone and save her leg. She learned to walk again at home with me when COVID shut the world down.
In 2020, we found out it had metastasized to her lungs. She had lung resection surgery to remove those nodules. They returned in 2021. Chemo didn’t work, and we thought the worst would happen, but she stabilized, and the nodules stopped growing. In 2022, she had lung surgery again. The next couple of years, she dealt with heart problems from her first chemo and yet managed to return to school and graduate with her class. The night before graduation, she was in the ER with appendicitis. She begged the doctors to let her walk across the stage. They gave her lots of antibiotics and pain meds, and less than 24 hours later, she walked and received her diploma. Two days later, they removed her appendix.
In January of this year, we were preparing for her to have leg-lengthening surgery on her left leg to correct the discrepancy left from her internal hemipelvectomy. That’s when we found out the nodules in her lungs were growing again. She started an oral chemo.
In October of this year, she was in so much pain she couldn’t stand. And that’s when we found out it’s spread to her spine. She’s had 14 doses of radiation and is now undergoing more chemo. They can’t remove the spinal tumors because it’s too close to her spinal cord. Last week, she developed sepsis and was hospitalized again over the Christmas holiday.
Lulu is pure sunshine. She’s my youngest child and my only daughter. She’s funny and kind. She loves animals, wrestling, football, and Taylor Swift. She was a budding makeup artist before cancer took over her life. She’s everything good I wanted to be but never was.
In all this time, I’ve been lucky to be employed with good insurance and an income. I’ve never missed work because I know it’s my job to take care of her. But the debt keeps piling up. I’ve maxed out credit cards and taken out loans. Cancer is expensive and now I have to swallow my pride and ask for help. Cancer is a marathon, not a sprint. And we’ve been running as fast as we can, but we just can’t catch up. We’re grateful for any little bit of help you can give us. #fightlikelulu
