Our Cancer Journey

Hello Friends,

As a couple who have spent most of our forty years together in education, it has always been our greatest pleasure to service our students and their families. Having started out as private school educators we enjoyed the ministry and accepted the sacrifices we were making for our students, and we have been equally satisfied since our move to public school. But Shirley and I have been faced with something I never imagined would happen: As most of you may know by now, I have been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. It’s a fast moving cancer with generally poor outcomes, so we are faced with planning my final chapter. Having spent most of our careers in private school resulted in us having less than adequate accrued resources (no savings, limited pension) at this time. As hard as this has been, it’s even harder knowing I may be leaving Shirley with financial problems I never anticipated. My income is something we have both relied on and with me gone, Shirley will not be able to sustain our home with her income alone. Even with my small life insurance money, it will cover my funeral but little else. This is hard for me to admit, but we are not prepared for any of this. Even though I’m doing my best to keep working, the added medical and gas expenses for treatments have already become burdensome. It was suggested we start a Go Fund Me account so that Shirley will not become debt-encumbered and may even become more debt-free by the time I am gone. If you can help financially that would be wonderful, and if you can help with prayer, that would be equally as wonderful. We love you all and know times are tough for everyone. We know The Lord has us both in his hands and we trust him for everything.

Christs’s love to you all,

Cliff and Shirley Brand