Deborah Fallon Laiacona

Deb Fallon Laiacona needs our help!
You may know her face from her community work, raising funds for the Fur Haven dog park, or maybe you've seen her at Ruby's Bistro & Bakery in Fair Haven (the restaurant she and Art opened last year) or seen her smiling face at the farmers market. Deb and her husband Art have worked tirelessly in our community.

Deb was recently diagnosed with melanoma behind the retina of her left eye. She may lose her eyesight.
She's fighting and she's fighting hard. Her treatments are long and painful. She has to stay in Boston at a hotel close to the hospital. The cost is 200.00 per night. Her last visit to Boston was to have surgery to prepare for the proton beam radiation and to have a biopsy so they could grade her cancer. Her stay while they performed these procedures was $1,000 for the 5 days she was there... 1,000.00, just for a bed to sleep in. She goes back for 6 days for daily radiation treatments the week of May 19th and will have to come up with another $1200 to pay for that stay plus the costs incurred just getting back and forth to Boston. Her financial obligation for this is $9,000, which is her insurance deductible. The financial strain is immense.

Art has been keeping the bistro going. He's scheduled for back surgery next month, leaving the one income they have in limbo while he regains his strength. Deb's treatments need to continue. Deb's treatments need to continue. The treatment isn't really to preserve her vision. It's actually going to more or less destroy her vision. It's the price she has to pay to kill the tumor. Eye melanoma is extremely rare and dangerous. Half of all cases spread, usually to the liver. Without treatment, it's basically a death sentence.

Depending on the biopsy results, she may or may not need immunotherapy or some other very new therapy that's going through clinical trials.

Deb and her husband Art had a dream to open Ruby's Bistro & Bakery and that dream became a reality last summer. Business was picking up and everything was going well...until it wasn't. A couple months ago Deb was diagnosed with cancer behind the retina of her left eye.

She made several trips to Boston to see an eye specialist. Her latest trip was surgery to prepare for proton beam radiation and also a biopsy for grading her tumor. Deborah returns to Boston for 5 days of radiation treatment. She wasn't eligible for compassionate lodging and has had to pay $199 a night for a hotel there while receiving treatment...so far it's up to $2000 plus the cost of getting there and back. She also has to come up with about $9K, the amount of her deductible.

Her friends are hoping to raise some money for her so that's one less worry as she navigates the possibility of losing sight in that eye or the cancer spreading.