Bless The Roberson's: Victoria, Chris & Alex

Let’s come together and bless The Roberson’s: Victoria, Chris and Alex!

They have had an extremely difficult few years, including the birth of Alex in October 2019 at 31 weeks which resulted in a 45 day NICU stay. Due to the pandemic, Chris was furloughed and then let go from his job in October 2020. That same month Victoria was diagnosed the day prior to Alex’s first birthday with stage IV Neuroendocrine cancer, which is very rare especially for younger adults. The primary tumor is in her colon, with additional tumors in the surrounding lymph nodes and extensively in the liver. Prior to the cancer diagnosis, Victoria suffered from unexplained health problems including skin flushing, heart palpitations, asthma, anaphylaxis and extreme fatigue; all of these are symptoms of Carcinoid Syndrome and Serotonin Syndrome, even rarer side effects of this rare cancer only effecting 1% of those with Neuroendocrine Cancer. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for Neuroendocrine Cancer and it is treated as a chronic disease, which means this is a marathon they are facing, not a sprint.

The journey to get to where they are started about 5 years ago when Victoria started having reactions to different foods and was told by doctors that she had a histamine intolerance. She was able to manage the symptoms, but the episodes increasingly grew worse over the years. There were many days when flushing episodes would last for an hour followed by chills and exhaustion which would cause Victoria to sleep for the rest of the day. Pregnancy was even worse and caused Victoria to remain in bed for almost two months due to extreme nausea. They later found out that if Victoria had carried full-term she would likely not have survived due to the carcinoid syndrome. She had a carcinoid crisis incident after pre-term labor that caused one wall of the left ventricle of her heart to stop moving, 20 pounds of water weight gained, low heart rate (in the 40’s), erratic blood pressure and extreme fatigue. None of the doctors could explain what the cause was. It wasn’t until June 2020 that Victoria was able to get an appointment with an Immunologist, that was the turning point in her health journey.

That brings us back to the cancer diagnosis. After several months of testing, it was confirmed the cause of the health issues – stage IV Neuroendocrine cancer. At first it was a relief to know the cause of Victoria’s health issues mixed with a naivety of what lay ahead. They had never heard of this rare cancer and went in thinking it would be a few months of treatment to reduce the tumors in her liver, colon and lymph nodes then surgery to remove the remaining tumors. Wrong… instead the tumor burden was so great that even with treatment the symptoms remained the same into the summer. In July, Victoria’s Oncologist told her the treatments were not working as she had hoped. She recommended increasing the frequency of Victoria’s treatments and adding a new medication to help block the creation of serotonin, which is causing her flushing and heart palpitations. The increased treatment schedule began in late July and there are already positive signs. It has now been 11 months since first being diagnosed and Victoria’s symptoms are finally decreasing! She is starting to have energy throughout the day and what used to be hour long flushes have reduced to 5 minute episodes.

Victoria’s health issues would leave her extremely exhausted and barely able to function, so they were grateful when Chris was furloughed in April 2020. He was now able to stay home and care for his family. The hope was the Immunologist would diagnose what was causing Victoria to be sick and establish a treatment plan that was sustainable. Things did not go as they hoped. As summer turned into fall, Chris was informed that his furlough would become permanent on October 1 and they would now be responsible for paying COBRA health insurance at $1,754.00 each month. By this time, the doctors were zeroing in on the diagnosis that would eventually be confirmed at the end of October. Chris returning to work at this point was just not feasible, Victoria’s symptoms were still too severe and they had not yet realized the gravity of what they now faced. He had spent the summer taking care of Alex and Victoria, driving her to her doctor’s appointments and doing his best to love and support her. He would need to continue to do this until her symptoms began to improve.

Throughout all of this, Victoria and Chris have remained strong in their faith. They both say that they see God’s hand working in their situation and are excited to see how he will use this. Medical science tells them there is no cure, no remission for this type of cancer. A specialist that was seen in January told them that all they can do is try and keep her comfortable until she dies. But Victoria and Chris know God and know that God can and will heal her! They fully expect that one day soon a scan will be performed and the tumors will be gone. The only explanation will be that God healed Victoria and he will receive all the glory!

Chris is actively searching for a new job and they are praying he finds one soon. However, 10 months and counting of COBRA payments have put a strain on their savings. Additionally, once Chris does go back to work, Victoria’s deductible will need to be met again for 2021. Her treatments are very expensive and just one month’s worth of treatment will meet her out of pocket responsibilities for the new insurance plan. They are also researching other specialists for this type of cancer with an eye on possibly being included in research studies. They are zeroing in on a specialist in Denver, which will only increase the financial burden they are facing.

As you can see they have a lot of expenses from medical bills, health insurance and lack of income. Will you join me in helping them lower the burden of these financial stresses so they can focus on treatment and their family?