From the site: "Shonda Parker has spent her adult life working for the health and benefit of others. Now she needs us as she combats bone cancer.
From a CT scan to a spine tumor. From one spine tumor to multiple tumors in spine and pelvis. From multiple tumors in spine and pelvis to tumors in lung, liver, spleen, and adrenal gland. From one very aggressive tumor to catastrophic surgeries. From multiple surgeries to spinal cord damage, liver damage, pancreas damage and plenty of platinum and battery-powered parts. From all that metal to no good way to monitor the remaining tumors. From the remaining tumors and all that damage to permanent pain management. From here forward, for the rest of her days: neurosurgeons, neurologists, oncologists, hematologists, anesthesiologists, cardiologists, electrophysiologists, urologists, gastroenterologists, endocrinologists, functional medicine docs, physical therapists, counseling therapists, and whatever other –ists and --ologists become necessary along the way.
Instead of one foot in front of the other, it is one hour or maybe one day out of the bed and into the reclining chair. And on very good days when she presses hardest, making it out for an event for her children or to worship with the Church. And all through this, Shonda has pressed on. Her husband, Keith, and her seven children, Zachary, Emily, Eryn, Ellie, Zeb, Sam, and Simon have rallied around her and have been the reason for her to keep trying to get up each day, to try to learn to walk again, to learn how to manage a bowel that no longer works on its own, to trying to cope with nerve pain and bone pain that doesn’t even allow her to snuggle her children. She must steel herself for the pain of being hugged by friends; or held by her husband. She, who thrives on conversation and interaction, must live with the overwhelming isolation all of this causes, and- amidst all of this-- to try continue to meet the needs of and her commitment to the students of health she has served over the past 23 years.
For a good while, Shonda and Keith were able to keep up with the regularly arriving doctor and hospital bills, the expenses of traveling back and forth to Houston and their stays there. They cut household spending, and the older children got jobs to help out. When the costs kept rising, they refinanced their home and took out a second mortgage. Now, the financial undertow is pulling at them fiercely; adding one more burden. Given the out-of-pocket medical care costs, the travel-to-treatment expenses, on-going costs of care; the Parkers can't keep up without the help of those who love them.
Many of us have expressed wishes that we could help this family who loves to help others. Here's our chance: We can donate to cover the expenses that have piled up and those that are coming up in the next year. The goal is to raise $30,000 for them, to give them the abundance they have shown to us, to show that --beyond our words-- we stand beside them, to remind them that from brokenness comes hope."
