This post is one of the most humbling things I’ve probably ever done in my life. I want to start by saying that Brian, Rory, and I have always been rich. Rich with all kinds of love, but never of the monetary kind. I always like to think our life has been extremely enriched by our experiences and memories spent together.

Before I go any further THANK YOU to those who have been so kind and generous to Brian and I here on GoFundMe! We are so immensely grateful!

Second, this is very difficult for me, because I’ve now upped our GoFundMe request as costs have started to really climb fast.

My goal is to try and give my husband the best quality of life for as long as I possibly can. Unfortunately, that means a lot of additional costs that our health insurance does not cover. Everything from accommodations, to travel costs, to numerous cost out of network that are not going towards our deductible. I’m trying to work through the maze of insurance, (that sometimes I feel like takes me a good share of a day to work through a simple problem) so in the meantime, things are not easy.

Please trust that I wouldn’t reach out in this format if Brian and I weren’t in such a predicament.

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Back story….

I’m just gonna lay out there right now kind of the situation that we’re sitting in. It all started with a massive seizure, code blue-ing, his time in ICU at Theda Clark in Appleton, Wisconsin, and then working on finding second opinions to see what would be the best care that we could give Brian. We learned on the morning after Brian‘s massive seizure, that he had a sizable lesion on his brain, a tumor. When we were shown the MRI images, I couldn’t even comprehend that someone could have a tumor that size in their brain! Especially not having known it before then! Brian never had any headaches. The only thing that we had started to notice was that he was starting to lose some words here and there, and he was also starting to complain about issues with his vision. I personally thought the losing words issue was an age issue, and we also blamed some of the site issues on his glasses and got him two new pairs in a matter of a month. After this all went down, we now realize that speech and loss of words, and site issues are also a symptom of a glioblastoma tumor. FYI, We had made an appointment to have Brian be seen by his family physician before this all went down, but this event happened before we ever made it to his first appointment regarding this issue.

After all our second opinions, we knew instantly that Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota was our choice. Brian has had numerous MRIs, CAT scans, bloodwork, brain surgery, follow up, diagnosis, prognosis, a Pet Scan, and now radiation and chemotherapy treatments. He has spent the last 2 1/2 weeks with radiation targeting his tumor.

We were supposed to have been able to stay in the Hope Lodge in Rochester so that we could avoid hotel costs. It was our intent to stay for the entire time of Brian‘s treatment as to trying to avoid all the traveling back-and-forth while in treatment. Unfortunately, we found out the Friday before that Brian wa llp s on a fairly long waitlist for the Hope Lodge and it’s looking like we’ll be staying in the hotel for what will look like three weeks, from the beginning of his pre-treatment, and post treatment appointments. We also just found out yesterday by mail that his oncologist is not in his network, and that all of his charges will not be covered.

You can imagine with Brian’s time in the ICU, his brain surgery, all of his cancer care treatments done at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, and never mind all the future post op treatments, we’re way past tapped out.

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I’m sick about all this. I’m upset that this had to happen to my husband and further more to our boy Rory. Where I thought we were doing OK, suddenly things don’t look so hot.

I don’t think I would trade for the world all our experiences, but life threw us a pretty significant curveball, and I guess we’re paying for it.

Damn, this is difficult. Last thing I ever wanted to do, was to be a host of a pity party. Anyone who knows me knows that I have always tried to live my life with the glass half full. Always trying to look at things positively. Always, I wake up and attempt to I bring positivity to my husband‘s life as best I can. Each and every day I quote what our then three year-old son would say, “It’s a new day!”

We discuss each and every day how fortunate we are, how grateful we are, and how we’re gonna do our best to fight this as best we can.

I promise I will his number one cheerleader all the way through treatment. I will continue to trudge through all the paperwork, all the fighting with insurance companies, working with the hospital to find us the best and most affordable care. Finally, I’ll try to remind myself often to lean on my family and friends, and do my best to look out for myself so that I can be the best I can for Brian.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for anything that you can do to help.

Love Brian and Peggy ❤️

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Original Post Below

One month ago our life changed drastically. We've been traversing some uncharted territory. Brian's brain mass removed this past week has yet to be diagnosed and it appears as though many more tests lay on our horizon. This has all been difficult to deal with and process, to say the least. We've now made two trips to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN with more to come. Medical expenses, travel expenses, hotel accommodations, food costs, etc... have been some unexpected expenses that have come our way. If you feel so inclined to donate/help we would be more than grateful.