Woman enters hospice for cancer after helping 2 children battle disease

Penny and Shawn (GoFundMe)

After helping her two children battle cancer, a Pennsylvania woman now faces the disease herself.

Penny Weller Guyer, 51, of St. Thomas Township, was diagnosed with small lung cell cancer in November after developing chest pains. She underwent a month of radiation and three months of chemotherapy, but the cancer spread to her lymph nodes, liver and bones.

"It just kept getting worse and worse," Guyer’s fiancé, Tony Flickinger, told Public Opinion. "About seven weeks in (the treatment), it was so bad she couldn't even lie still for the treatments."

Guyer suspended treatments and admitted herself into hospice to manage the pain.

On Sunday, the community held a fundraiser for Guyer and her family, and a GoFundMe.com page was set up to pay medical expenses.

Guyer’s son Shawn, now 24, was 2 years old when he beat leukemia, only to get sick with a bacterial infection three years later that took both of his arms and legs, Public Opinion reported. As her son’s primary caregiver, Guyer has been unable to work regularly, according to the GoFundMe page.

Last year, Guyer’s daughter Tiffany Bowersox, 32, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which went into remission after treatment. In November, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and two weeks ago was told the thyroid cancer was back and in her lymph nodes. Bowersox and her husband, Dan Bowersox, have three young sons ages 8,5, and 1.

Today, Guyer is most concerned about her children and leaving her grandchildren.

"She has her will, and a power of attorney taken care of, and she has done everything she can to make it easier for her family," Flickinger told Public Opinion.