Olivia R., OH

Have you ever met someone so full of life, so vibrant, so generous, kind, and warm-hearted whose only wish for her life was to become a doctor to help people like her? Erin is that person. Erin is this light that shines so bright and so warmly that even on your darkest days, she makes you feel good, happy, and loved.

Erin is a 33 year-old young woman whose been dealt a difficult hand in life. She’s lived in Columbus, Ohio her entire life. She’s full of life in every way. She has a beautiful singing voice and can play multiple instruments. Besides being musically gifted, she’s extremely intelligent as well. She earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from The Ohio State University. She has had a dream that one day she could become a doctor and give back by helping others. Upon taking the MCAT, she placed in the 99th percentile and was accepted into multiple medical schools, including The Ohio State University Medical School, Columbia University Medical School, and Vanderbilt University Medical School.

However, she had to put her dreams on hold to take care of her mother and brother. Her mother had been very ill most of Erin’s life and Erin had taken care of her since she, herself, was about 8 years old. Unfortunately, last Christmas, Erin’s mother passed away. Her mother left her and her older brother the tiny house they lived in, but it’s in desperate need of repairs and has a lien on it from Medicaid because of her mother’s medical expenses. Her mother also left her a car. However, it’s still wrapped up in the court system and is unable to be settled due to COVID-19 so she’s without a car. Erin’s father also suffers from seizures and other health problems for which he struggles to find adequate care. Her older brother suffers from severe seizures, an injured back, and other neurological issues. Erin continues to take care of both of them despite her own health conditions. Erin works for a law firm trying to make just enough money to cover basic living expenses, but it’s extremely difficult. She applied to a physician assistant program, was accepted and awarded academic scholarships to pay for it, but her health has put a pause on that as well.

Erin suffers from severe asthma and she has always had a hard time breathing, making it near impossible for her to do many basic activities. She needs portable, 24-hour oxygen, but her health insurance will not cover it for her and she simply cannot afford it on her own. To add to this, she has a brain tumor, inoperable, fast-growing breast cancer, and a failing heart.

She’s always seemed to have a physically weak heart. She’s only 33 years old and has already had 3 heart attacks. Her heart muscles are deteriorating more each day and her heart is failing, forcing her to become extremely fluid overloaded. She has breast cancer for the third time, but unfortunately, it’s inoperable at the moment. The cancer is too close to her heart for her current doctors to risk removing it. She has always received chemotherapy for her cancer, but this time, her doctors had to stop it because it was becoming too much on her heart. She also has a brain tumor that causes her debilitating headaches that last for days at a time which no medications seem to alleviate.

Her current doctors have given up on her. A month ago, one of her doctors looked her in the eyes and told her, “Face it. You’re dying”. They don’t think she’s worth being put on the list for a heart transplant, being considered for advanced options, or anything in between.

But, it doesn’t matter. Erin is a fearless and ferocious fighter. She wakes up every day with a smile on her face, in good spirit, and refuses to give up on herself. She refuses to let her life be taken away from her without a fight. She is determined to find a way to get better. Every day she chooses hope, she chooses love, she chooses determination. She’s determined to find a way to not only make her own life better, but to also become a doctor to give back to the profession and to others.

She knows a doctor at Vanderbilt University from when she was younger and this doctor knows her entire situation and even knows her family personally from her time at OSU in Columbus. She told Erin that if they could find some way to get her down to Vanderbilt, they would be able to place her in a program to essentially save her life. She’d be able to receive the treatment, surgeries, and monitoring that she desperately needs to improve her conditions. This doctor believes that if this would happen, Erin could get at least another 20-30 years added to her life. For a girl who currently never knows if today will truly be her last day or not, another 20 years of life would mean everything to her.

This is an urgent matter. We are trying to raise money ASAP for her to be able to get herself a car, make it down to Vanderbilt, find a new home, receive her treatments, surgeries, and monitoring, and receive portable, 24-hour oxygen. This will save her life. This will let her live a longer and happier life.

We are reaching out to various organizations such as the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and the American Cancer Society to try to gather as many resources as possible for Erin. We are doing everything we can.
The GoFundMe Campaign can be found here: gf.me/u/yvjvjq

Any donation is greatly appreciated and no donation is too small. Thank you so much in advanced.