Team Lisa Casper

Lisa and Mike had lived together for 8 years when he died suddenly on the night before Valentine's day.  They had obtained a marriage license in late December for a New Year's Eve wedding but due to a recurrence of Lisa's Lymphoma and the need for an additional round of chemotherapy, they postponed the wedding.  

That round of chemo did not work and neither did the next one.  This week, Lisa was referred to hospice.  Her physician said that there was no point in continuing treatment.  

After Mike's death, his estate went to his mother.  In Florida, there is no common law marriage provision and within a couple of days, Lisa was removed from all of Mike's bank accounts, including the joint accounts.  She has literally no access to cash.  The business that supported Mike and Lisa was also closed down eliminating any future cash flow.  I do not understand these decisions but I do belive they were made in good faith.

She is allowed to live in the house she shared with Mike but must pay for all the household expenses.  Her 72 year old Mom is doing her best to cover the expenses but cash is short and getting shorter with each bill that is paid to keep the utilities on and cover some bills left over from before Mike's death.  This is not to imply that Lisa is not grateful for the opportunity to stay in the house but it is impossible for her to stay much longer unless there is an infusion of cash.

When Mike was alive he took care of Lisa's financial needs and those of the household including Sam's needs so Lisa never applied for disability.  As it turns out, it is a slow and arduous process and frankly, I have no idea what will happen if Lisa dies before she is approved.   

Lisa's sister is trying to find a clinical trial but there are none in Florida that might help her.  If she finds one, it will involve enormous travel costs and other expenses not covered by the trial itself.  

More likely, there will be expenses related to the last days of her life and her funeral.  

Lisa's 13 year old daughter, Sam,  is an expense as well. She is obsessively neat, does her homework without prompting and keeps the house spotless.  She earns her keep but like most teenagers, her needs are significant. She is in dance during school now but due to the instability of her household, she might do better in additional extracirrucular activities which are cost prohibitive at this point.  Sam, God bless her heart, has promised to get a job when she can get her worker's permit at age 14 and save enough money to buy back 'her house'.  

There are no set dates for anything but if the timing works out, I would like to see Sam spend the summer at some structured summer camp where she will not be in the thick of the death related tasks.  It would be too easy for her to become a statistic if both of the adults in her house died within a couple of months of each other.

Cancer sucks but dying should not be a financial burden. Turns out it is.  

If you are able, please give a little to keep Lisa in her home until she finds treatment or dies.  Help make sure that Sam has what she needs and give Lisa and her Mom a little less cause for stress and anxiety in what may very well be her last days.

There are many people who are simply unable to part with any cash.  That's okay.  If you want to help anyway, please share this post.  

Thanks in advance.