To see her mother for what may be the last time, a Gainesville woman has turned to the internet to help fund a trip to New York.
Morgan Barthelme, 20, whose mother has stage-four pancreatic tumors, has raised $1,460 through a GoFundMe webpage since Sept. 2, as of press time.
The money will go toward plane tickets for her and three of her siblings to fly to Sidney, New York, she said.
It has been about six months since Barthelme has seen her mother, 63-year-old Kathy. For one of her sisters, it has been nearly three years, at about the same time her mother contracted her tumors.
Recently, as her condition worsened, she has spent more time in a hospital bed than in her own.
“You realize what you have once it’s gone,” Barthelme said.
Their fundraising goal is $5,000, she said. She hopes to meet the goal by October.
“My twin sister and I both work minimum wage jobs and with the time frame we may not have enough time to get all the funds we need,” Barthelme wrote in a message.
Barthelme said she came up with the idea to create the page, and her two sisters and older brother have been very supportive of the idea.
If Barthelme and her siblings reunite with their mother, she said anything they do would be special, even driving around and sightseeing.
Her mother moved to New York in April as she became more ill, Barthelme said.
“I think she wanted to be buried with her mom once she goes,” she said.
Saying goodbye to a loved one nearing the end of his or her life can offer meaningful closure for those involved, said Debra Weiss, a UF mental health counselor.
“There may be an element of having had the ability to prepare to say goodbye, to do meaningful actions with that person, to kind of put in place plans for grieving,” Weiss said.
To donate, visit gofundme.com/2mxw4hg.
