Donate to Ease John and Heather's Burden

Hi Everyone,

My name is, Vicki Guthrie. I am the sister-in-law to Heather and John Prutzman. I was with Heather’s eldest brother, Daniel until he unexpectedly passed away in 2018.

Heather and John are currently living in Florida and have been struggling physically, mentally and financially for several months now and are in need of assistance.

John suffered an extremely scary medical emergency during the summer while he was driving his truck in Pennsylvania. Since then he has not been cleared to return to work and at this time there is no date as to when he will be able to return to work. He doesn’t have STD nor has he been able to qualify for any other state aid. John is their primary source of income and also holds their medical benefits through his company as Heather is permanently disabled due to her ongoing battle with cancer. John has had the weight of the world on his shoulders worrying about Heather being home alone without any help while he was out on the road for weeks at a time.

Heather has been battling an incurable blood and bone cancer for 6 years and her medical bills have been extremely high and ongoing even with having medical benefits. Her daily oral chemotherapy medication copay is $5,200 a month and she has exhausted all the copay assistance that she qualified for within the first 3 months of this year. She has had a tough year with continued medical issues. A tumor was found in her breast earlier this year and now requires surgery to have it removed. She also had stage 2 melanoma over the summer which also required surgery to remove the cancerous area. Thankfully all her margins came back clear after her surgery. In addition, Heather needs to have extensive spine surgery because of her blood and bone marrow cancer affecting her spine. She has been in excruciating pain and discomfort and has difficulty with her mobility. Heather is hoping to have her spine surgery early into 2025 in New Jersey, as that is where her spine surgeon is located. As she says “he has been her angel for 20 years and she will not let any other surgeon touch her spine.”

John and Heather were recently impacted by Hurricane Milton as the county they live in was in the direct path of the hurricane. They last most of their privacy fence around their yard that keeps their dogs secure, had some damage to their roof and John’s truck and their yard looked like a war zone from all the debris. They are in the process of getting estimates for the damage they incurred; however, their property hurricane insurance deductible is $4,700. Depending on the amount of the estimates they receive they are trying to avoid going through their insurance for fear of it getting raised even more or getting dropped for filing a claim.

As many of you know, John and Heather were trying to sell their home in the spring/summer and planned on moving back to New Jersey to be near their family and friends. It would have lifted a lot of stress and worry off of them. Unfortunately, their home did not sell due to the housing market in their area was not good. They had planned on putting it back in the market in January, 2025. However, that is now on hold because of everything they have been up against.

October is an exceptionally hard month for them as October 12, 2017 is the day their son, Joey Savage, was in a terrible car accident. Five days later, on October 17, 2017, they lost their son to his injuries.

Not only did they loose Joey, Heather lost her mother four months prior to Joey and her brother Daniel four months after Joey. John also lost his son, Anthony, unexpectedly in 2019.

Those of you that know, John and Heather, know they would do anything for anyone. They have two of the biggest hearts that I have ever met and their love for each other is unbreakable. They have been together for 30 years and have been tested more times than they can count. If we can help them out in any way we can to lessen their financial burden, I know they would be extremely thankful and beyond grateful. And let’s try to get this wonderful couple back to New Jersey where they belong with the people they love most in this world.

Prayers of comfort and support are very much needed, as well.

Thank you to each and everyone of you for all your love and support for John and Heather. Please feel free to private message me through Facebook messenger if you have any questions.

If you could also share this GoFundMe for them on your Facebook pages, I would sincerely appreciate it.

Thank you! ❤️

Vicki Guthrie

John and Heather’s Southern Sister-in-Law from Virginia