Tabitha is a 42 year old, single mom living a beautiful life in recovery. She lives in a happy home with her incredible 8 year old son Ryker and her sweet dog Kiwi. They enjoy hiking, going to Seattle sports games, and having movie nights at home as a family.

In January she began having excruciating abdominal pain which led to over a dozen ER visits, multiple radiologic scans and countless blood draws. She has had several minor procedures this past year with minimal success in determining the cause or in reducing her overall pain. In April, a lesion was found in her T10 vertebrae and after months of testing, she has been diagnosed with myelofibrosis. On November 14th, Tabitha will be undergoing spinal fusion surgery to remove the cancerous lesion. It is an invasive procedure which will require a hospital stay for several days followed by a lengthy recovery. This will impact her ability to work for several months but the surgeon is confident he can get clean margins by removing her T10 and grafting/fusing the surrounding vertebrae.

Tabitha lives a faith-led lifestyle trusting that her higher power will walk her through this difficult time. She has spent nearly 12 years living in addiction recovery and strongly believes this is an opportunity to help someone going through similar situations in the future by being able to share her experience, strength and hope.

She passionately works as a preschool teacher and is going to miss her students dearly while she recovers during the holiday season. As a new teacher, she does not qualify for disability but she wouldn’t trade teaching young minds for any other profession. Although her school does not offer traditional benefits such as short-term disability, she is covered under the state’s medical plan so thankfully will have few medical bills associated with her cancer. 

Tabitha and her son will greatly benefit from your support for their everyday living expenses. They live a very simple lifestyle with few expenses other than rent, utilities, groceries and standard bills. They are also being blessed with meals being delivered to them while Tabitha re-learns to walk and takes the recommended time at home to heal. She will be unable to drive during her recovery but is excited for visitors and is also open to food delivery services. The mealtrain link is:  https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/6ezvvk if you are more comfortable with donating meals or gift cards, as anything helps during this difficult period of their lives. 

Tabitha is focused on a healthy recovery with a positive outcome and is greatly looking forward to returning to her active life. She feels very blessed to be surrounded by her family, both her blood relatives and the fellowship of her recovery community. She lives in a lovely community with many of her neighbors having dogs that play with her sweet Kiwi. She is grateful for her community and looks forward to the opportunity of more gatherings as she recovers. She will come out of this stronger, healthier and even more blessed!