Help local resident care worker diagnosed with brain tumor visit family in Maine
For the Tomahawk Leader
TOMAHAWK – Ann is a beautiful soul, who loves God, life, family, and has a passion for helping the elderly. She has spent most of her adult life working in that field. She has a special gift for making people feel comfortable, welcomed and loved. Always smiling and joking around, she brings sunshine to any room she walks into. You would never know by her outward appearance the battle she’s fighting.
For the last 10 years, Ann has been a resident care worker both at Riverview Health Services and Milestone Assisted Living in Tomahawk. Before that, she lived with her husband in Oostburg, raising her three kids and two stepsons. Her life took a drastic turn in May of 2020, when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 small cell lung cancer. She had started chemo, and it did make a difference, but decided to stop treatment due to problems with her thyroid and atrial fibrillation.
After being off work for months, she was happy to be back, but still wasn’t feeling well. After another trip to her doctor and more testing, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor deep in her brain stem. She is just finishing radiation treatment to see if the tumor can be shrunk. Ann has been so happy with her oncology team at Ascension and thankful they are helping her.
While some people might get angry and turn away from God, that is not the case for Ann. She looks at this as a sign from God, telling her it is time to stop and take care of herself, as she has been putting others first for the last 45 years.
One of her coworkers asked her, “If you could have a dream come true, what would you dare to dream?”
Ann didn’t have to think too long; there are a couple of things she would like to do. She said she would like a manicure and would like to see her daughter and grandchildren, who live in Maine. She has not seen them in over two years.
When Sara Kallerud of Roots Salon in Tomahawk heard Ann’s story, Sara decided to help make part of this dream come true by donating a manicure (A big thank you to Sara and Roots Salon for their caring act of kindness!).
Her friend and coworker would like to help make Ann’s dream of visiting her daughter and grandchildren possible by flying Ann and her husband to Maine. Ann’s daughter has room, so just the plane tickets are needed. Her husband’s birthday is in March, and her hope is to be there for his birthday.
We hope that we can fulfill this dream. Even if just 30 people donated $20, we’d be halfway there! For these reasons, we are asking that you consider helping her cause.
If you’d like o help Ann visit her family in Maine, please visit Park City Credit Union and donate to Ann’s Awesome Adventure.