Pathways of Perseverance

Early on a Sunday morning in June, Tim awoke with intense pain, which we immediately realized was the sign of more kidney stones. Though we didn't realize it at the time, the kidney stones were the least of our worries. In fact, over the next month, besides bothersome kidney pain, Tim continued with greater and greater exhaustion, until we finally contacted the oncologist who had been treating him for several years, successfully, for CLL. She immediately ordered an MRI. It revealed a 3 cm tumor in his brain.  His diagnosis is a rare and usually aggressive cancer called Richter’s Transformation, in which CLL transforms t o lymphoma of the central nervous system (in his case, centered in his brain).He has been under the care of very skilled and caring doctors, who are doing their best to provide the most up to date treatments—he had a month of radiation treatments and has begun immunotherapy infusions. The truth is, however, there are very few protocols for this type of cancer because of how rare it is. Prognosis is uncertain. Tim has had periods of both encouraging progress and confusing and discouraging setbacks, yet we trust our strong and powerful God who is able to accomplish that which seems humanly impossible. As you may imagine, the costs for his treatments—multiple MRI’s and other imaging, lumbar punctures, blood work every few weeks, doctor fees, two hospital stays, a two-week stay in a skilled nursing facility, radiation, immunotherapy treatments, and home care—are simply overwhelming. He joined a Medicare plan this year, but unfortunately it does not begin to cover the costs we’ve incurred, and now the medical underwriting required to switch to another plan would almost certainly result in non-acceptance. After much thought, discussion, and prayer, we’ve decided to begin the GoFundMe campaign, in order to ease the burden of this heavy medical cost. We would value contributions in any amount and the solidarity they represent in standing with us in the challenge we face.