I don’t know how this works, but I am humanly scared. I am a very spiritual person, and I pray daily, thanking God for every day He wakes me up. Just last year May 2024, I finally had my goal completed by graduating with my BA in Sociology, magna cum laude! I was so proud of that personal accomplishment. My world came crashing down in the new year of 2025, and I began losing weight and having awful stomach pains that wouldn’t stop. It was so bad that I couldn’t eat or drink without it coming back up. Fear took me to the emergency room in February 2025. I had a CT scan, and a mass was discovered on my pancreas. Shortly thereafter, I was informed that I had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. My world stopped, and all I heard at that moment was a death sentence. I have been out of work on short-term disability due to my having to receive chemo. I cannot return to work until August, per my medical team. I have sought various agencies for temporary financial assistance but have been denied. The state agencies are going by my income received within the last 30 days, which were payouts of vacation days from work I hadn’t used. I cannot be stressed now; I don’t want to lose my living quarters or have my utilities interrupted. I’m not looking for handouts; I need help. I’m not one to wait for others to help me, I’ve worked for over 40 years, and now I’m in this position where I need help. As a 58-year-old who has so much life yet to live, this diagnosis has been depressing, and I’m terrified because I have a 20-year-old who’s in college, and I’m set to begin my Master’s Degree program in June 2025. My research doesn’t give me much hope, but all I have is hope and faith in God and believing He’s not done with me yet. I pray that the help and kindness of others will further my hope. Again, I have never done this before, reaching out on this platform, but I pray that it reaches those who can understand my plight and the help I need. In college, I did many research projects to help the state of NJ with telehealth, which students and others are currently using. I
