50th anniversary celebration turns nightmare

Ben is a proud Marine and 100% disabled Vietnam vet. For our 50th anniversary, he wanted to take me, our son and our daughter-in-law on a cruise in Europe, but then COVID happened. Finally, in 2021 we booked a short Mediterranean cruise with an October 2022 departure date.

A month after booking, he was diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer. The doctors managed to get it mostly under control with operations, radiation and immunotherapy and they eventually cleared him to make the trip.

A few days after arriving in Europe, he fell critically ill and was admitted to the ER with septic shock. He was given a 20% chance of survival but is slowly stabilizing after nearly 2 weeks. At present, he is far too weak to travel home and the timeline for him being discharged and fit to fly, even on a medical evacuation flight, is uncertain.

We do have travel insurance, but the coverage does not foresee an extended hospitalization like this and we are not sure if coverage is sufficient. We are also being asked to pay the doctors' bills up front and will then get reimbursed from the insurance at a later date. At the moment, we are assuming medical evacuation will not be necessary, but if it is, the costs are extremely high and are not covered by our insurance. On top of this, countless smaller, unforeseen, expenses for us and our son and daughter-in-law have arisen due to our rapid change in plans.

We ask for your help to pay in this order: for any medical treatment that is not covered by our insurance, to assist with the travel costs to return home, to assist with the costs of emergency travel and cancellation. Any excess funds will be donated to Merkel Cell Carcinoma research and treatment - the exact charity is yet to be selected.