Amy’s story
Amy is a 35-year-old wife and mom of 3 kids and has been battling stage III melanoma. For the past 2 ½ years, she has battled cancer in her spine, liver and lungs and is currently undergoing an immune therapy regime. Amy mentioned many times during our conversation that melanoma is very sneaky, and you never know where or when it’s going to rear its ugly head. Unfortunately, Amy carries a lot of anxiety and symptoms of PTSD. Every time she goes to the doctor she thinks, “Is this something else I have to worry about.”
Bringing Hope Home first met Amy through her social worker Megan at the University of Pennsylvania. We were able to help her andher Family pay bills through the Light of Hope grant in January 2020, they received a Thanksgiving meal during our Family, Feast & Football event in November, and we provided gift cards through the Adopt-A-Family program in December for Christmas. “Just when we thought we didn’t have anybody, Bringing Hope Home came out of nowhere to help us out and we are so grateful!”, said Amy.
Like the rest of us, Amy and her husband are navigating this “new normal” for schooling the kids. Amy’s oldest daughter is a senior and knows that things probably won’t happen like before, but she is planning to make it her daughter’s best year. She recently told her “I’m not going to let cancer define me, so you can’t let COVID define you!”