Help Ricky and Maximus Fight Cancer

Hi!  My name is Claire and those people in the pictures are my good friends Ricky, Carolynn, and baby Maximus (Max).   Ricky has been battling cancer since he was 14 months old.  He was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma--multiple tumors in each eye.  The doctors told his mother to prepare for the worst because he was unlikely to survive.  He had chemo and radiation, but lost an eye before the cancer went into remission.  

At 28, he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, had more chemo and disfiguring craniofacial surgery.  Ricky enjoyed two years of remission during which he met the woman he plans to marry on October 30, 2015 in a small ceremony, Carolynn.  Ricky also started working as a nurse.  Unfortunately, the rhabdomyosarcoma came back in June 2014.  Ricky was told that his prognosis was not good.  He had six or seven rounds of chemo and a massive craniofacial surgery in January 2015.  

There was another surprise in the works!  Carolynn discovered that she was pregnant with Max in September 2014 and he came into the world in November 2014, full of spunk and laughter.  Doing some quick math?  Max, the little sneaker, didn't let us know he was around until Carolynn was about 30 weeks pregnant.  Sadly, Ricky wasn't able to be there when Max was born--they were both in different hospitals--but he got to watch, live on my iPhone with Facetime.  

Just when they thought that things were turning around, Ricky began having seizures, and was diagnosed with a seizure disorder due to radiation damage to his brain.  While finding the right combination of anti-seizure meds, Ricky began getting facial infections.  The infections would clear up but then return a few days later, causing Ricky to miss work frequently, and be in and out of the hospital.  This went on for four months and surgery was scheduled for July 2015 to debride the area from the January surgery and try to find the source of infection.  The doctors removed his frontal bone and some surgical plates, requiring a large skin graft to be taken from his arm.  Ricky was again out of work, this time for a month.  The infection keeps returning despite the surgery and Ricky has had two rounds of antibiotics.  
Amidst all of this, a genetic screening for Max came back as positive for the genetic cancer that took Ricky's eye.  A routine screening revealed a tumor in Max's eye.  He was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at 8 months old.  Max had three rounds of chemo before his first birthday and has at least two more to go.  The tumor is responding, but there's no guarantees.  

As things stand, Ricky will need another surgery to replace the plate in his head--assuming they can get the infections under control and the cancer doesn't come back.  Until the infections are under control and the seizures managed through medication, Ricky continues to be in and out of the hospital and miss work.  Despite having insurance, medical bills are piling up.  As of this moment--October 2015, Ricky owes at least $5,000 in medical bills.  Ricky gets a portion of his pay while he is out sick, but it doesn't cover all of their expenses.  

Ricky, Carolynn, and baby Maximus are kind and loving people facing ridiculous adversity.  They need whatever help that the other kind people in the world have to offer them.  Ricky would love to be able to work steadily and support his family, but he just keeps getting sick.  Money is tight for their family each month.  They get some help from their parents, but despite their generosity, the bills, mainly medical expenses, keep piling up.  If they could just get their debts paid and have a little money in the bank in case of a rainy day, it would mean the world to them and to me.  Especially considering, that the forecast is predicting showers to continue for at least the near future.