Rosemary Stoddard was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2023. In 2024, she turned to Help Hope Live to rally her community and offset the cost of a double lung transplant.
The campaign in her honor has raised over $35,000 so far, exceeding Rosemary’s first fundraising goal.
Support for the campaign has included creative fundraisers held by Jessica Stoddard, Rosemary’s loving daughter, extending their family’s hope across two states.
“My Turn to Help”: Jessica’s Story
My parents have been my biggest supporters all my life.
As a kid, I tried a little bit of everything, but I stuck with dance throughout my school years. My parents never missed a recital or competition. They never complained about dishing out extra money that they probably didn’t always have for extra classes.
Each summer, we spent two weeks camping at my favorite destination—even though at times they probably would have preferred to try out somewhere new. They let my friends tag along with us and treated them like family, too.
Now that we don’t live in the same state, my mom and I still watch a lot of the same TV. We catch up about our shows on the phone. She’s always calling to check in and see how I’m doing, how work is going, and how her grandpuppies are.
We’ve always had a very close relationship. I know I could call her any time of the day, for anything at all, and she’s always there to listen.
My parents moved to South Carolina in 2015 for my dad’s health: he is living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a rare form of muscular dystrophy.
After many long winters in Massachusetts, his body couldn’t handle the cold anymore. A warmer climate allowed him to have a better quality of life while continuing to do the things he enjoys.
My mom didn’t love the thought of moving away, but she knew it was the right thing for my dad, and she has always done everything she can to put his needs first.
As they moved to Conway, South Carolina, I bought their house and remained here in Oxford, Massachusetts.
I truly love the community I have here in Massachusetts.
I have lived in the same house for 32 years. My neighbors are fantastic, the community here is supportive, and I have built so many relationships with the people around me.
Since I grew up here, the majority of my friends are friends I’ve had since elementary school. I have family spread across much of the country, but many of my family members do live here locally—aunts, uncles, cousins—and friends’ families who treat me like I belong.
I worked at the Mirrored Beauty salon for 7 years before my business partner and I took over ownership. The original owner did not want to re-open as COVID shut their doors, so knowing nothing about business ownership but with 12 years of industry experience under our belts, we took a leap of faith.
Five years later, the salon is thriving! I’ve built a great bond with the staff, and the clients who come into our salon often leave as friends.
I am truly blessed with the people I have in my life.
Even though my dad has lived with a chronic illness for my whole life, his health has deteriorated less quickly than my mom’s.
I saw my parents in February 2020, and we did not expect COVID-19 to rear its ugly head and prevent us from seeing each other again until May 2021. Because my dad is immunocompromised, we all thought it best not to travel until all of us could be vaccinated. We kept up with a lot of phone calls and FaceTime sessions.
In April 2021, we got our second dose of the COVID vaccine, and a month later, we were finally able to meet up in Colonial Williamsburg and spend a week exploring a new place together.
My mom never fully recovered from her bout of COVID. Many doctor and urgent care visits led us to believe that she was living with long COVID and that it was going to take time for her to feel better.
In July 2022, my parents made the haul to Maine to camp for a week. There, I saw firsthand that my mother’s health was getting worse.
It was hard for her to move around, she struggled to walk any distance, and she spent a lot of time coughing and unable to catch her breath. She struggled to do everyday tasks.
This struggle continued leading up to her diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis in 2023. As soon as her diagnosis was confirmed, she was set up with at-home oxygen equipment—leaving the house now meant packing up her oxygen to go along with her.
Right away, it became a learning experience for all of us navigating how to live with this new challenge.
This experience has been different from anything else I’ve faced in my life. My best friend’s husband received a liver transplant in 2023, so I did have some limited knowledge on the transplant process, but I don’t know if there’s really any way to feel prepared for what’s to come when it happens to you or your family.
Watching my mom’s daily struggles from far away has been difficult. It’s also hard knowing that my dad is down there living with pain of his own and taking on the role of caregiver by himself. I get down as often as I can to support both my parents and give my dad a break.
I can’t be there as much as I’d like, and sometimes it would be nice to have someone else step in and help when I’m not able to.
As an only child, I’ve always been very close with my parents, and they have always been there to help me when I needed it.
Now it was my turn to step up and help them.
A hair salon can be like a psychologist’s office sometimes. I know more about some of my clients and their daily struggles than I do about some of my friends. Likewise, our clients know about important things going on in my life.
Because we were surrounded by such caring and giving people, people who just kept asking how they could help, I knew we had the support to hold a successful fundraiser at the salon. That’s how the Haircut-a-thon idea came together.
The number of people who donated baskets and offered to help was truly overwhelming.
People would just stop by the salon and drop things off—sometimes, people we didn’t even know who had heard about the event from someone else.
People who knew they couldn’t attend the event dropped off donations in my mom’s honor, local businesses donated gift cards and refreshments for our guests. We ended up with 45 raffle baskets and completed 50 haircuts at the salon between the four of us.
My biggest fear was that we wouldn’t have a good turnout, and there was a prediction for snow that worried me. I never expected the turnout we had.
When we opened the salon doors, people were literally lined up outside.
People walked into our salon who were strangers, high school classmates, or old friends of my parents. We had co-workers’ families, neighbors from our business plaza, friends-of-friends…it was amazing.
I had a goal of raising $1,500. I basically stayed in one spot cutting hair all day and watching things unfold around me.
I had no idea how the fundraising was going, and I was truly in awe when we finally realized how much had been raised. I thought, “We must have counted something twice. Let’s count again.”
The total was correct: we raised $6,175 during a 6-hour event.
Help Hope Live has been the right choice for us to help manage these fundraising efforts in my mom’s honor.
It has been very easy to get in touch with our Client Services Coordinator, Melanie—she has been so helpful and answers any questions we have.
Melanie has checked in with us to see if there is anything we need. Help Hope Live Campaign Pages are easy to navigate for people interested in donating and easy for us to access as well.
My advice to anyone just starting out with fundraising is, do not be afraid to ask for help.
I hate asking for help, especially when it comes to money, and so do both of my parents. However, you have to remember that this is necessary for your loved one to get the care that they need.
Though some days it doesn’t feel like it, the world is full of good people.
When they see a cause like this, they want to help. Social media is a powerful tool, so use it.
For planning fundraisers, think about what your family member enjoys, and think outside the box. Aside from the cut-a-thon, I knew we could get a lot of interest and help from a local bowling alley where my dad bowled for many years. I talked with the manager and the shop owner, and the shop owner donated a bowling ball to us.
For six nights, my cousin and I went to the alley during league play and sold raffle tickets. It took us 2 hours per day for 6 days to raise $5,040.
I held a bowling fundraiser with more raffle opportunities and offered 2 hours of bowling for a $25 donation. I had 85 bowlers show up. We only owed the bowling alley $900 for the space, and in those 3 hours of play, we raised $4,600 to donate to Help Hope Live in Rosemary’s honor.
Knowing that I am helping my parents get to their fundraising goal has been so rewarding that it helps to fill my own cup.
In my downtime, I also take care of myself by spending time with my boyfriend and friends. I go bowling, play disc golf, craft, and do a lot of reading. As it gets warmer, I am spending time outside walking the dogs. Sometimes, I will ask one of the girls at work to wash and blow-dry my hair just to get a little self-care and relaxation for myself.
I try to keep my mind busy and not concentrate on the negative or the what-ifs.
To me, hope is the belief that things can get better, even when you can’t predict the outcome. I lost a childhood friend who had the middle name Hope. Every day, I ask her to share her hope with us.
I believe that positive thinking and holding onto hope can manifest positive outcomes.
“Love Your Life, and Never Give Up”: Rosemary’s Story
Before I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a typical weekday involved going to work, watching my husband bowl, crocheting, helping with dinner cleanup, then taking a walk. A weekend might include going out to dinner occasionally just to go for a ride together. I would talk to my daughter every day.
After I experienced COVID, I couldn’t seem to get rid of the cough I had. I was told it was either bronchitis or pneumonia. The cough affected my work: as an administrative assistant, I had to answer phones and help people when they came to the office, and this became difficult because of my cough.
As a family, we already had experience with chronic illness. I had always been the caregiver who helped my husband David when and if he needed it.
One of the hardest things I faced was moving to South Carolina. It has been so hard being that far away from Jessica and the rest of our family, but I always told David I would stand by him and do whatever was best for his health.
I was told that the only treatment for my diagnosis would be a transplant. I learned I would have to lose weight to get my body mass index down so that I could join the transplant waiting list. I had to relocate from South Carolina closer to the transplant center in North Carolina to start rehab to help prepare for transplant.
Rehab was necessary to help strengthen my body to be able to handle the surgery and accept a new set of lungs. That required medical relocation so that I could pursue rehab in-person.
It was very difficult to have to move—we have pets at home we miss very, very much, and we miss being in our own home. I stay focused and positive thanks to all the support I have from family and friends.
I know the hard work I have been doing will pay off once I can enjoy my family again and breathe on my own again.
When I met with the transplant team, I was told to start fundraising. We had to have a certain amount available before they would even move forward with the process of medical relocation and rehab. They gave me the information for Help Hope Live, and I was told not to use GoFundMe.
Help Hope Live has been a wonderful organization to work with, and our Client Services Coordinator, Melanie, has been nothing but helpful with everything.
The response to the fundraising campaign has been overwhelming. The community back in Massachusetts and the community in South Carolina have both come together with support from family, friends, co-workers, and David’s bowling families both here and in Massachusetts.
If it wasn’t for Jessica doing such amazing fundraisers and all the participation from the community, I don’t think I would be anywhere close to my fundraising goal yet.
I look forward to breathing air on my own and spending quality time with my loved ones after transplant. There is always hope, so do what is necessary and keep believing in yourself.
Never give up.
It’s a long and hard journey but keep pushing and keep telling yourself you can do it. You deserve it, and you are strong. Live your life. Love your life. Laugh hard and keep your mind on what you hope your life will become.
One day at a time—you got this.
Support the campaign in Rosemary’s honor and follow along with her road to transplant at helphopelive.org. You can follow Jessica’s salon Mirrored Beauty on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
