I’m Scared My Mom Will Die

I don’t usually post here so my apologies if my formatting is weird.

My (31F) mom (61F) has been having horrible health complications and I don’t know where to start.

Before I get into that, I wanna talk about her. She moved here from El Salvador in the 80’s to seek asylum. She met a man (my donor) and had 4 children with him. He’s in prison now.

She didn’t have the easiest life here, she’s a woman that barely speaks English (I know she’s been here long but sometimes it’s harder for people to learn a new language). I’m used to her getting taken advantage of. At work she was never promoted. Even a pastor at our old church took thousands from here making her believe she was going to rent a home from him, only for him to move a different family in.

Anyways, I’m rambling. You kinda get a picture of how her life has been so far in the U.S. One thing she loves to do is travel. She has been traveling to El Salvador as much as she can since I sponsored her to become a resident back when I was like 21. After returning from a trip, she developed a cough. She started going to doctors, but they would dismiss her as having a cold and not really helping her. Her cough persisted for 8 months before she went to a doctor in Mexico. There, they listened to her concerns and did tests on her. They found fluid in her lungs and they also found… cancer. They removed the lump on her breast and told her it had spread to her lymph nodes. They suggested she get chemo treatment. They also ran some tests and found that she had an infection in her blood that had spread to her lungs. The fluid buildup was a result of that.

She came back to U.S with the medical records and the doctors immediately put her on chemo. Since finding out of the infection, they did treat it, but since she was going through chemo, they had to move slowly as to not disturb her body even more. She beat cancer thank god after a year of struggling. Now they can focus on everything else. The infection is gone now, but the damage is done. Her lungs still have fluid in them because she has inflammation in the lining of her lungs. She currently on oxygen, and her lungs are beyond repair. The cough hasn’t gone away, and its been hard her for to hold food down. At first we believe it was the chemo, but it’s still happening. Because of all this, she developed a new disease that causes inflammation in the small blood vessels in her lungs. This can cause leakage or ruptures.

She is tired of the cough, she is tired of the throwing up. The doctors told her she now needs a double lung transplant, but will not even put her on the Donor list because she does not have insurance. She is currently on Medicaid but I guess that’s not suffice. She resides in Colorado. It makes me sad because she truly does not believe she would not make it in time for a new transplant, if she even gets one. It’s obvious she would need insurance with pre-existing conditions, and I know it will be very expensive. That’s just not something we can afford. My sister is her caretaker and does not work. My brother pays her rent and bills and lives with her. My moms boyfriend also works to help pay for medical expenses. I try to send money here and there, but I have 3 kids and live in TX. I don’t have the money to financially support this. I’m going to fly out there sometime next week to get some stuff figured out.

Does anyone have any insight on what avenues I may look into? She is not a U.S citizen, she just has her residency. She’s been paying taxes since the 80’s. My other only option is to have me and my brother and her bf to split the costs. Is there a program or someone I can reach out to? I don’t want her last days to end in suffering. I appreciate any advice. Thank you for reading.