Help Support the Russell Family (Patti and Randy)

Friends and family,

Recently Patti and Randy were taking a little much needed vacation to spend time with Brittany and Cyrus in Florida. As many of you know, Randy was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer last year. He is still undergoing treatment, including a very complex surgery later in March. He has been in and out of the hospital battling his cancer and preparing his body for the surgery. This vacation was something they very much were looking forward to.

During the trip, out of nowhere, Patti became incredibly ill with a range of symptoms which eventually hospitalized her. We are absolutely devastated and shocked to find out she has Stage IV Lung Cancer. The cancer has spread, to her spine, leg and brain. Patti doesn’t smoke, she is active and was never sick. She has been so strong but this has whole heartedly been the most difficult time in their lives.

The Russell family has been grateful for your prayers and your love and support. There is never a good time for any of this to happen, however, Patti's diagnosis during Randy's fight for his life has come at the absolute worst time for this family. The Russell family is a small unit of fighters - they are working to be as optimistic as they can while doing all they can to fight to get better.

This is a family who now has to focus on their health - the worries of medical bills, travel fees, food costs, etc. are something that they do not need on their plate as well. Patti is a contracted employee for school districts as a speech pathologist for students and unfortunately that position does not receive benefits. Due to her diagnosis she will likely never be able to go back to work and has zero income now but of course all of her monthly bills, home costs, car, insurance, etc. will continue.

Now, due to the high level of care she is requiring, she has an immense amount of medical bills. Unfortunately and quite cruelly, insurance has denied coverage of a significant amount of the medical treatments so far. The hospital (in Florida) where she was admitted to when her symptoms first began also neglected to inform the family that they did not accept her insurance and were only told this when they were scheduling radiation for Patti. Now, Patti is liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars from that stay. Now, on top of all the medical care, fear, and pain, the family is working on changing her insurance and moving her back to Wisconsin to hopefully get better care and be with extended family.

Brittany and Cyrus will now be traveling to MN/WI to care for Randy during his surgery and could use support and love as well. If you are able, I encourage to you share what you can and support this family however you can - whether it's spreading the word and sharing this story, financially contributing, or emotionally supporting them. The Russells have always been there for others and it's our turn to show up for them.