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In Loving Memory of Alisa (Redoutey) Wilbrink
As many of you know, Alisa passed away on March 26th, 2021 after a courageous 3 year long battle with a rare form of brain cancer. Despite a grim diagnosis, her joyful and optimistic personality never faltered. She was an amazing person. A loving and faithful daughter, sister, wife, mother and friend. She is already missed beyond measure. In a heartbreaking twist, Alisa's father, Mike aka Mr. R, unexpectedly passed away just 3 months earlier. We take comfort in knowing that Alisa is no longer suffering and that she was welcomed into Heaven by not only her loving heavenly Father, but also her very own Pops.
Brain surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and all the side effects that go along are hard enough to imagine but it is also hard to describe all the ways that the last couple of years have effected her family. In the wake of her loss, her husband Dominic and their two young kids are faced with a new challenge that they were not been able to prepare for; her memorial. To put it simply, their finances have been completely drained from this fight. While it was worth every penny and sacrifice, and as hard as it is to say it, they now need help to provide Alisa with the proper memorial that she is so deserving of.
In 2018 Alisa was a vibrant active mother of two, living in Emmaus, Pennsylvania where Dominic's career had led them to settle. The family lived in a modest house in a nice neighborhood. She enjoyed what was in many ways an ideal life with a bright future. All of that changed abruptly with a simple appointment to an eye doctor.
Alisa needed a new pair of eye glasses. She went in expecting a new pair of cute frames. She left knowing that something was terribly wrong. Within two weeks she was under anesthesia and having brain surgery. Within a month and a half she underwent daily radiation treatment. And for the next year Alisa experienced a monthly cycle of chemotherapy and recovery.
For those who have not experienced it, radiation and chemo devastate your normal daily existence. Your energy and and subsequently your willpower are depleted. Adding to this, there is no cure for astrocytoma, it is terminal. Avoiding depression is impossible. But life does not stop around you. Children, especially young children, require constant care. Theo was 3 years old and Elanor was just 11 months old when their mother was diagnosed and all this began.
To help on this front Alisa’s mother and mother-in-law were angels. They took weeks and months away from their homes and jobs to stay with Alisa and take care of the kids. The church and local MOPS group that Alisa attended organized meals. Dominic’s work granted a lot of leeway. A lot of people helped however they could, in small ways and big.
Struggling to cope is the story we most often tell when dealing with a major illness in the family. The enormity of the situation coupled with need to accomplish simple daily life tasks can be overwhelming. The other side to that story, that every family must deal with, is the financial side. While the healthcare system struggled to provide adequate coverage at reasonable rates, the plans available to their middle class family cost more than their mortgage. Therefore, they faced the full financial burden of Alisa's surgery and treatments. Living a normal independent life was no longer attainable and they made the hard decision to sell the home and move back to Michigan to live with family. By the end of 2019, Dominic had put his career on hold to assume the full-time job of caretaker for both the kids and Alisa. The financial goals shifted from a home of their own and saving for retirement, to addressing healthcare concerns.
For better or worse, this new change did bring a sort of silver lining. The family income was now so low that they qualified for Medicaid. The financial burden of addressing Alisa‘s healthcare concerns was alleviated but this still left little room in the budget for anything more than food and transportation. With Alisa‘s passing, the family’s resources have long been drained and have left them unprepared for her memorial. With your help and support, the family can get through this last phase of the ordeal and begin to figure out the next step in their lives without the burden of debt.
We appreciate and welcome your prayers and would also love for you to share some of your favorite memories of Alisa.
As many of you know, Alisa passed away on March 26th, 2021 after a courageous 3 year long battle with a rare form of brain cancer. Despite a grim diagnosis, her joyful and optimistic personality never faltered. She was an amazing person. A loving and faithful daughter, sister, wife, mother and friend. She is already missed beyond measure. In a heartbreaking twist, Alisa's father, Mike aka Mr. R, unexpectedly passed away just 3 months earlier. We take comfort in knowing that Alisa is no longer suffering and that she was welcomed into Heaven by not only her loving heavenly Father, but also her very own Pops.
Brain surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and all the side effects that go along are hard enough to imagine but it is also hard to describe all the ways that the last couple of years have effected her family. In the wake of her loss, her husband Dominic and their two young kids are faced with a new challenge that they were not been able to prepare for; her memorial. To put it simply, their finances have been completely drained from this fight. While it was worth every penny and sacrifice, and as hard as it is to say it, they now need help to provide Alisa with the proper memorial that she is so deserving of.
In 2018 Alisa was a vibrant active mother of two, living in Emmaus, Pennsylvania where Dominic's career had led them to settle. The family lived in a modest house in a nice neighborhood. She enjoyed what was in many ways an ideal life with a bright future. All of that changed abruptly with a simple appointment to an eye doctor.
Alisa needed a new pair of eye glasses. She went in expecting a new pair of cute frames. She left knowing that something was terribly wrong. Within two weeks she was under anesthesia and having brain surgery. Within a month and a half she underwent daily radiation treatment. And for the next year Alisa experienced a monthly cycle of chemotherapy and recovery.
For those who have not experienced it, radiation and chemo devastate your normal daily existence. Your energy and and subsequently your willpower are depleted. Adding to this, there is no cure for astrocytoma, it is terminal. Avoiding depression is impossible. But life does not stop around you. Children, especially young children, require constant care. Theo was 3 years old and Elanor was just 11 months old when their mother was diagnosed and all this began.
To help on this front Alisa’s mother and mother-in-law were angels. They took weeks and months away from their homes and jobs to stay with Alisa and take care of the kids. The church and local MOPS group that Alisa attended organized meals. Dominic’s work granted a lot of leeway. A lot of people helped however they could, in small ways and big.
Struggling to cope is the story we most often tell when dealing with a major illness in the family. The enormity of the situation coupled with need to accomplish simple daily life tasks can be overwhelming. The other side to that story, that every family must deal with, is the financial side. While the healthcare system struggled to provide adequate coverage at reasonable rates, the plans available to their middle class family cost more than their mortgage. Therefore, they faced the full financial burden of Alisa's surgery and treatments. Living a normal independent life was no longer attainable and they made the hard decision to sell the home and move back to Michigan to live with family. By the end of 2019, Dominic had put his career on hold to assume the full-time job of caretaker for both the kids and Alisa. The financial goals shifted from a home of their own and saving for retirement, to addressing healthcare concerns.
For better or worse, this new change did bring a sort of silver lining. The family income was now so low that they qualified for Medicaid. The financial burden of addressing Alisa‘s healthcare concerns was alleviated but this still left little room in the budget for anything more than food and transportation. With Alisa‘s passing, the family’s resources have long been drained and have left them unprepared for her memorial. With your help and support, the family can get through this last phase of the ordeal and begin to figure out the next step in their lives without the burden of debt.
We appreciate and welcome your prayers and would also love for you to share some of your favorite memories of Alisa.
Organizer and beneficiary
Dominic Wilbrink
Beneficiary