I am in the process of creating a crowd-funding page for my friend Beth and her daughter Becky. My heart aches so badly for them. They are the remaining family members out of five.
Okay, sit down while you read this, because this family’s story is difficult to fathom. Beth and Paul Goheen’s girls (Tessie, Katie, and Becky) were eight, six, and five years old when they lost their dad to esophegeal cancer. Six years later, Katie (the second child) was diagnosed with bone cancer in her jaw. Mom Beth and Katie spent two years at the Ronald McDonald House during treatment. After Katie went to sleep, Beth would drive back to Bremerton to clean the house, do laundry, and cook food for Tessie (14) and Becky (11) who were for the most part on their own. Then, she would go work for four hours before driving back to the Ronald McDonald House, catch a few hours of sleep and then, start all over again. A few months after Katie’s treatment ended, The euphoria ended when Becky (the youngest) was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 13. It was back to the Ronald McDonald House and nightly roundtrip commutes for Beth. It was then that doctors did genetic testing and discovered Li Fraumini Syndrome. The ensuing years the Goheen girls’ bodies were tumor factories. Each suffered through multiple cancers such as breast, ovarian, colon, bone, and the treatments. They never knew when another tumor would appear. Then, Katie, passed away while Becky was being treated for bone cancer in Seattle and Tessie in Portland. Then, not long after, they ltragically lost Tessie. The whole situation is neverending and heart breaking. How can you plan a future when faced with such terrible odds?
The burden of dealing with three children with multiple cancer diagnoses and treatments, and the loss of two of them, over the past 20+ years has taken a huge toll. Beth is exhausted from the emotional strain of driving back and forth between the UWMC and Bremerton, and trying to work part-time, and the knowledge that Becky‘s body is still creating new cancers.
I will post this to either Angel Link or Go Fund Me soon. It’s the only thing I can think to do from so far away.
What Beth and Becky have survived puts life in perspective. Friends think I have endured so much and I know I have but my life has been a picnic compared to Beth’s.
Please pray for them and check out my website and or my Facebook page for the donation details soon.
Mahalo, and be well,
Shirley
PS Thank you to whoever took this photo and posted it on UnSplash.
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