My name is Amanda. I opened this page with the hope of getting help for my extremely sick husband. About 2 months ago, we noticed he was having problems swallowing food and would often choke on stuff he ate and would throw up everything he would eat. He would also get really bad chest pains. Finally, he had enough, and he went to the ER where they suggested he see a gastroenterologist. So, we made an appointment for that, and we went. They said we need to do an upper GI endoscopy to see what’s going on. The day came for his GI appointment, and we were not prepared for what they found and what they said it probably was. They said they found a mass in his esophagus, and it was to the point of closing off his ability to swallow anything. The doctor said they tried to remove as much as they could, but it was bleeding too badly, so he was admitted. Tests were run for 2 days, and the doctor said she was gonna try again to remove the mass. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to, but she was able to get a biopsy of it to send off for testing. In the meantime, we are waiting, and this whole time my husband isn’t able to eat without throwing up, losing a considerable amount of weight. We tried everything from the BRAT diet to Ensure and Boost drinks; nothing is helping. We finally get the call from the doctor telling us he has cancer and needs to see an oncologist immediately. We go see the doctor, and we were not prepared for what he said. My husband has GE junction stage 3 cancer, needs to start chemotherapy immediately along with a major surgery that could be life-changing depending on how bad the cancer has destroyed his insides. After surgery, he needs more rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The doctor at the moment is running another biopsy because they are concerned it may be even worse than stage 3 due to the fact my husband is extremely sick and unable to eat anything. My husband has lost 60 pounds in a month and a half. Before this started, he was a healthy 225 pounds. As of the 25th of September, he weighs 171 pounds and is very thin and pale. The doctor said he will have to put a feeding tube in him because he isn’t getting any nutrition.

My husband has worked every day of his life since he was 18. He is now 42 and is told he needs to stop working for an unknown amount of time. He is the breadwinner in our house. While I do have a part-time job, my hours and pay aren’t enough for our family to survive off of. While there are places for helping with rent and utilities, we have been told they can’t help us on a monthly basis. We would appreciate any amount of help and support as this is extremely difficult for our family