Chris - Unfortunate Diagnosis & Medical Bills

Hi there - My name is Annelle - most of you will know me as Annie :)

First off, this fundraiser is fully a secret. Vanessa and Chris have absolutely NO idea that i'm starting this fundraiser and I DO NOT WANT THEM TO KNOW. PLEASE don't share it with them. Please refrain from reaching out to them with condolonces after reading this as I fear that the attention will do more harm than good at this point in time. I plan to present this to them once we've hit / gotten close to the goal and i'll beg for their forgiveness from there!!!

I'm lucky enough to call Vanessa my sister. Our family really won the lotto when Ness married Chris. He's quite literally the most generous man I've ever met. On top of all of this, I got a niece out of the whole deal :) Her name is Lily and she's a spry 18 years old (wtf - HOW?!). Shes a Freshman in college.

For those of you who know Vanessa and Chris, you'll already know that they are GOOD people. For those of you who don't know them personally, all I can say is that they're like - the kind of people that would give you the clothes off of their back - good people. The kind of people who will bring you food when you're going through a rough patch. The kind of people who help their friends and family with finances when money is tight even if they aren't in a position to.

They're constantly volunteering - Chris coaches a little league football team on the weekends (like can you even?) and Vanessa helps run the snack stand (again, can you even?). I've never seen them tip below 25% at a restaurant cause they know how hard it is to be in the service industry and to depend on tips. If you were ever to be in a position where you needed help with anything - anything at all, they'd be the first ones there. I mean this so sincerely. Our extended family and close friends have felt the warmth and support of Vanessa and Chris and I know they will vouch here.

Vanessa and Chris have not had the best of luck with Chris' health the past couple of years.

First, at the start of the pandemic, we got the news that Chris' kidneys were failing him. This was really shocking and horrible but we were ready to tackle it head on. Chris made substantial lifestyle changes to slow the progression of his kidney failure - despite him being at end stage. Vanessa quite literally made it her life mission to do whatever she could to ensure that Chris made every doctors appointment, that she was keeping record of everything, and that she could be the emotional rock of the family.

We shared and shared and shared the message that we needed a Kidney. Like REALLY shared it. By some miracle, we got a kidney - truly, it was a miracle. We were so relieved and so grateful.

In order to receive a transplant, a patient must go through some mandatory pre-surgical testing. One of these required tests is a colonoscopy. Last week, after Chris' pre surgical colonoscopy, we received the devastating news that they had found cancer in Chris' colon.

We don't know much just yet, Chris is undergoing loads of tests and having scan after scan after scan. What we do know is that this means Chris is off the transplant list. I'm sure you can imagine the severity of this news.

I genuinely have tears in my eyes as I type this because I hate that the worst things truly do happen to the best people :(

I'm so sad for my sister and my brother-in-law. I'm so sad for my niece. I'm scared for the future and the uncertainty of what's next.

One thing that I do know for certain is that I don't want them to be worrying about finances. I don't have control over a lot of things, but I can share our story, and I can hope that those who are able to help will help.

Please, if you have the means, consider donating to this fundraiser. Every last penny of these funds will be donated to Vanessa, Chris and Lily to help support them while Chris receives treatment and to help pay medical bills. I'm sure you can imagine this, but having Cancer in America is really, really expensive. Add kidney failure on top of that, and you've got a lifetime of debt. I want to try and help relieve this financial burden.

If you've made it to the bottom of my long-winded spiel - thank you. I'll post updates as I have them! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Seriously.

xoxoxox Annie