Go Fund Me account established for Dayton woman battling breast cancer
Submitted by editor on Mon, 08/17/2015 - 9:22pm
Dayton resident Lois Heflin is in her second battle with cancer and even with insurance, bills are mounting.
“She continues to work at the Northwest Territorial Mint, and has used up her leave time so the time off for appointments and chemotherapy are unpaid,” said Sheila Heflin-Conour, her daughter. “The financial situation has become very challenging, and I thought I would surprise them by setting up a Go Fund Me account in order to help offset their day-to-day living expenses.”
Heflin-Conour said that growing up, her dad would often work two jobs to provide his children not only with what they needed, but also with some of the things they wanted.
“We are all doing what we can to help financially, because we want them to have a home and food on the table,” she said. “But even with insurance, the medical bills are growing.”
Lois was diagnosed many years ago with a very rare form of lymphoma that affected both the interior and exterior of her spine, and at that time given where medical protocols were, was not given a very good prognosis.
“But she’s a tough cookie and she beat it but it took 10 years to pay off those bills,” Heflin-Conour said. “This time, she had a lump in her breast (it would grow and then reduce), and finally went to the doctor, was sent immediately to Great Basin Imaging and was notified that day she had both breast cancer and it was in the lymph nodes around the breast.”
Lois has just completed her first set of 10 chemotherapy treatments, a process she will continue: three Fridays of treatment and one Friday off, at which time her doctor will review her progress and decide then whether or not surgery is needed.
“She is older this round and it’s been harder on her,” Heflin-Conour said. “We remind her to keep her limitations in mind, but she has to work and that takes a lot.”
Heflin-Conour’s dad, Troy, has been doing yard work for his landlord, in order to work off the rent to free up that money to help pay other bills.
“(The landlord) knows how proud my dad is, and said he is too busy to take care of (that and his other properties), and asked Dad if he would be willing to take over and put that time toward reducing the rent,” she said.
She also told the story of a friend’s 16-year-old son who gave the money he earned working for a day.
“He had met Mom a couple times and wanted to give his wages for that day to her,” Heflin-Conour said. “That made me cry. What an amazing young man; not a lot of kids that age think like that.”
“People are helping in any way they can, and I am so grateful.”
Go here to donate to the Go Fund Me account. For more information, contact Heflin-Conour at 775-315-4061.
This story reprinted courtesy of Comstock Chronicles.
