Richard's Medical Fund

My husband, Richard "Peanut" Elder, is undergoing treatment for kidney cancer that has spread to his brain. He is unable to work for the forseeable future. He has health insurance, but we are still looking at staggering expenses on a drastically reduced income.

Richard went to the ER on Wednesday, September 21 with tingling and numbness on one side of his body. A CT scan revealed bleeding in his brain (technically a stroke) and he was transported to the Neuroscience ICU at Johnston Willis hospital.

After a week of hospitalization and testing, it was determined that there is a tumor in his kidney and the cancer has metastisized and spread to the brain. The tumor in his brainstem is bleeding a little and also causing swelling and pressure that led to the symptoms. 

He is being given daily radiation treatments for a couple  weeks to try to shrink the tumor in his brainstem, and then they will use a Gamma Knife to attempt to further eradicate it.  If that goes well, they will then surgically remove his left kidney.

Richard is unable to work for at least several months. He had just changed jobs a couple months ago, so his medical insurance and life insurance have not started yet and he is ineligible for FMLA or short term disability.

Fortunately we had added him to my medical insurance for the interim. Even so, our savings will quickly be wiped out by our share of the medical bills, and my salary won't stretch to cover all of our living expenses. We are working to reduce our expenses as much as we are able.

Many people have offered their love, prayers, and support, and we appreciate all of you so much! For those of you who have asked what you might do to help, the most practical answer is to contribute a few dollars if you are able. If you are unable to contribute, then just please share this link in addition to continuing to join us in hoping for the best possible outcome.

Love and thanks,

Chan Elder