Mom, 52, Dying of Cancer Pleads with Community for Help So She Can Be Buried Next to Her Dad

A nursing assistant in Illinois has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is asking for community support so she can be buried next to her father in Alabama.

“It’s more of a last wish,” Christy Schroeder, 52, told CBS affiliate WIFR from her hospital bed, with her 32-year-old daughter, Amanda Deringer, beside her.

Schroeder spent more than a decade working as a nursing assistant in memory care before she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022. Last week, she learned the illness had become terminal after spreading to her brain and lungs, WIFR reported.

In a GoFundMe page Schroeder created to help cover out-of-state funeral costs, she said the news was “devastating.”

“After spending twelve years in the medical field caring for others, I find myself in the difficult position of needing help myself,” Schroeder wrote. “I have no insurance, and the reality of my situation has left me in shock, leading to an emergency baptism and a lot of soul searching.”

Schroeder hopes to raise enough to cover travel expenses and the cost of a gravestone. As of Tuesday, Jan. 13, the donation page had raised nearly $11,000 toward its $13,000 goal.

“Without life insurance, I am worried about leaving these expenses to my family, who have already supported me so much through this journey,” she wrote. “I want to make sure everything is taken care of so they don’t have to carry this burden.”

In her interview with WIFR, Schroeder said she previously dropped her life insurance to help support her daughter, who struggled with addiction and is now sober.

“I love you so much,” Deringer told Schroeder, according to the outlet. “You took care of me.”

For Schroeder, facing the reality of her diagnosis has been especially painful because she doesn’t want to leave her daughter and grandchildren behind. Still, she finds comfort in the thought of being buried next to her father, WIFR reported.

“I’ve been a daddy’s girl since I was barely walking,” Schroeder said. “And it’s something I’ve wanted to do my whole life was be buried next to my dad.”