To all of my Friends and Family:

This isn't something that I ever thought i would be doing, but here we are. The last few months have been mentally, emotionally, physically and financially rough. Matt's Mom was diagnosed with stage 4 Lung cancer last summer and passed away in January. During this time, Matt was experiencing abdominal pain and overall just feeling unwell that started getting progressively worse. By February, he had received 3 different diagnoses and been treated for them, but he kept getting worse. At this point, his abdomen was swollen and hard and the pain was intolerable so he went to the Emergency room and was admitted for a bowel obstruction. During this 2 week stay at the hospital, they ran all the tests and diagnosed him with Crohn's disease and scheduled for surgery, but he was too malnourished for said surgery. So they placed a picc line and started him on TPN (total parenteral nutrition) along with a soft diet.

On 3/6/25 he was admitted to the hospital again and the next morning, 3/7, he underwent surgery for the bowel obstruction. They removed the right side of his colon and over a foot of his small intestine. Due to the severity and damage from the obstruction, the surgeon created and placed,what was supposed to be temporary, an ileostomy to allow the rest of his digestive system to heal. 1 week later, while Matt was still in the hospital recovering, he received yet another diagnosis: Appendiceal goblet cell adenocarcinoma with peritoneal metastasis, which is Stage 4 Appendix Cancer that has spread to other organs. Apparently, what was thought to be a bowel obstruction caused from a Crohn's flare, was actually a 7cm tumor causing the obstruction and he doesn't have Crohn's. As you can probably imagine, this has been quite a shock to us. I've always been the one with all the medical problems and Matt has always been generally healthy, aside from Epilepsy. We have since met with different Oncologists to get opinions and have learned that this type of cancer is very rare, almost never discovered before stage 4, and the prognosis isn't the best. His oncologist said that, due to the type and stage of this cancer, curing is not the goal. The goal is to extend his life and for him to have quality of life, and the best route for that is aggressive chemo. Matt is not the type to just quit or give up.Twice a month, every month for the next 6 months, he will be going to the hospital for chemo.

Cancer is expensive. With Matt unable to work, and waiting for disability to, hopefully , be approved, we are struggling to get through each month relying solely on my disability benefits. We are experiencing food insecurity, and he needs to be getting 100 grams of protein daily, through a combination of protein powder, shakes, and the limited diet he can handle. Transportation to and from Matt's appointments is also a struggle. Our car isn't really reliable and rides through insurance are less than reliable. We are also being forced to move, which is a giant headache. I have an apartment lined up for us to move into, but there is going to be at least a week between when we have to be out of the current place and can move into the new one.

I have applied and signed up for every resource i find.