Medical Expenses and Funeral Cost

We are the Burke’s. I’m MaryAnn, my husband is Billy (Boog), and we have three children aged 11, 4, and 10 months. For the past several months we have been trying to figure out some health issues that Billy, my husband has been experiencing. It started with back pain, which then turned into throwing up almost on a daily basis, which led to a significant weight loss and a swollen abdomen. While trying to figure out what was going on with our General Practitioner we ended up in the ER on 11/13/23 because of the severe pain he was experiencing. After a CT scan, the ER doctor came in and explained what she saw. Cancer. The one word you don’t ever want to hear. The ER doctor explained that Billy had several lesions on his spine, a very large lesion on one of his kidneys, and a lesion either on his liver or on the adrenal gland above his liver. On 11/14/23 at 2AM, our lives were forever changed. She referred us to the oncologist in our town and said that we needed to follow up with him first thing in the morning as well as our General Practitioner. We shared tears and asked if we could just go home. Later that morning after 3 hours of sleep and getting the kids to school we reached out to the oncologist’s office to set up his first appointment. They didn’t receive everything from the hospital ER until 3 that afternoon. Those few hours of waiting felt like a lifetime. When they finally got back to us we had an appointment set for 11/29/23. It felt like an eternity away. How could we wait that long and not know more? What do we tell our children? Do we wait to tell them when we have more answers? Do we tell them now so they know the severity of what dad is experiencing and why he isn’t able to do the things they’re used to? On 11/19/23 at 4AM we ended up back in the ER for Billy’s pain. He hadn’t been able to sleep in two days and it was seriously taking its toll on top of the pain he was experiencing. We met a wonderful ER doctor that gave us a lot of good information and helped us get his pain in control for the time being. On 11/20/23 we were able to get an appointment with our General Practitioner. She was so helpful and went above and beyond for us to help how she could with managing Billy’s pain and she even called the oncologist’s office to see if we could be seen sooner. She told us to call them back first thing the next morning so that’s what we did. On 11/21/23 I called the oncologist’s office and told them that we had been asked to call first thing by our doctor and they said they would see us at 10AM THAT morning. Praise God! It felt like the first good thing we had heard in a week. The oncologist was nothing short of amazing. He got the ball rolling right away and we were set up that afternoon with an appointment for a biopsy and a consult for a port for future treatment. Which brings us to today 11/28/23. Billy had a biopsy done on his liver this morning and we had his consult for his port placement this afternoon. We just got Billy added to my insurance and because of that it hasn’t kicked in yet and we are paying for everything out of pocket until he gets approved through my job. He has been a stay at home dad since March of this year when I went back to work after having our last child. As a family of 5 and now not being able to have Billy be able to do childcare and adding all of the medical bills and medication costs, we are in significant financial need. We are hoping that in the next few weeks he will be approved for my insurance so that we can avoid having more large medical bills. I am also missing quite a bit of work making sure that we make all of his appointments as we want him to be seen as quickly as possible. We understand that everyone is feeling the pressure of finances in the current times we are in. We ask that if you can not donate, that you would please pray for Billy and our family as we walk through this journey that we did not ask to be on, but that God has deemed us equipped to take. Please pray for healing and restoration of Billy’s body and for strength and peace for us all. We appreciate all of the love and support we have already gotten and are so grateful for the people God has put on our path to move things along.

 “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭10‬ ‭ 

 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭