Jay's Medical Expense Fund

Jay Costello is a 56-year-old retired Lt. Colonel (US Army Reserves) who is battling light chain multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that attacks plasma cells. His cancer fighting team includes his wife Mary, daughters Megan (30), Erin (27) and Jayne (18), and dog grandchildren Mrs. Brisbee (6) and Korbelle (2).

Jay -- sometimes called the Big Cahuna -- was diagnosed in June 2015 with this "real shitburger" cancer. Myeloma is treatable, but incurable cancer. His body is producing malignant plasma cells that accumulate in the bone marrow and may cause tumors, damage the kidneys, and impair immune system function. Currently, Jay has more than 8 sites of lytic lesions -- basically "bone tumors." 

After a summer of chemotherapy, Jay is preparing for an autologous stem cell transplant at UW Hospital in Madison, Wis. This is a 21-day admission to the hospital and a 6-8 week recovery at home. Both Jay and Mary will take leave of absences from their jobs from November to January.

Your gifts can help us:
- buy groceries and dinners during the transplant and recovery
- support basic caregiving necessities such as transportation costs and utilities 

Gifts  will be used immediately by our family. We've had so much support from friends and family already, and we're calling on our network for more help and support in the next very tough chapter. 

As we head into the cool fall in Wisconsin, we keep repeating our favorite saying, an incantation from an old Buddhist prayer and heard more recently from Prof. Richie Davidson, a scholar of contemplative studies and psychology at UW-Madison: "May you be free of suffering, and experience joy and ease."

This is what we tell ourselves, sometimes just for a moment and sometimes for many moments in a long string of deep breaths or hugging of dogs or both.

Love,
The Costellos