Friends & Family of the Higgins Family

Friends and Family of the Higgins: As most of you know, Dan’s cancer has returned – stage 4 colo-rectal cancer. They have an excellent team of doctors. They have an amazing support system of family and friends. Many of which have asked how they can help. Still, you know Shelly. There is always a sense of anxiety with this all. After having met with doctors and establishing a plan, Shelly and Dan recognized that Dan would have to take a step back from work at this time. At the onset they were under the impression there would be viable options like unemployment or disability to help make up some of the void of his lost income (at least enough to cover monthly living expenses as their family pared down). What they have learned since, is that Dan does not qualify for unemployment, nor will disability kick in for quite some time - at a minimum 6 months to a year. But obviously they must continue to pay their mortgage and thankfully live life in that time. They now find themselves in another unexpected situation; they have savings and Shelly’s job is solid, but neither will be enough in the long haul to cover monthly expenses for a family of four.

At the urging of friends - who have reminded both Shelly and Dan time and time again - that when people offer to help and ask if there is anything they can do, they mean it – I am setting up a gofundme, despite their protestations of “we don’t want to ask for anything”.  So, to all of you who have asked how you can help (beyond your amazing emotional support and other kind offerings), well… contributing towards making ends meet so that the family can keep safe harbor in “the house that Dan built” and so the financial tax of health expenses on a single income is one less weight on their shoulders would be one huge mental load off of their minds. If you can, and your heart tells you to, please contribute. Love to you all.

Thanks for your consideration.

Tiffany

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More from Shelly when prompted on “the latest”:

There has always been that underlying fear that one day we may hear something we do not want to – that the cancer has come back. And, unfortunately, here we are (oh, 2020…). We are thankfully on an aggressive treatment plan, which has helped put our minds [somewhat at ease? Or…] on a more positive trajectory than at the onset.

I am doing my best to take one day at a time, but some days are harder than others. Right now I have set my sights on Dan’s four week check-up. If his numbers are down – or even if they are just not up – then we know the treatment is having an effect and we are able to breathe a little easier. This is the stuff we live for right now.

We have been through this before and have a pretty good idea of what Dan will go through physically. Along with that, we have a fairly good idea of where we will travel mentally on this journey. After having met with doctors and establishing a plan, we recognized that it was the only option for Dan to take a step back from work. A very hard and emotional decision for many reasons.

What we will do is give Dan lots of hugs when he is down, hold his hand when he needs to feel loved. We will sit quietly watching the sunset and hopefully cast a line in the river when he is feeling good! He is keeping busy with projects around the house, doing puzzles and getting great joy from finding cool free stuff out of the paper (he got that from his dad ……)

I am going to do my best to keep you all posted on this journey. I’ll try to make sure updates are available to post here sporadically. Thank you for the outpouring of love and support that has already been shown to our family. Love, Shelly

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As per gofundme request of the fundraiser: 
Who you are: Tiffany Curci
Where you're from: Blaine County, ID
Your relationship to the parties you're raising funds for: Family Friends
How the funds will be used (be specific as possible): Cover living expenses (mortgage, insurance, house/living expenses) for the Higgins as much as possible while they wait for disability insurance to kick in. 
If you intend to withdraw the money, how you plan to send the funds to the parties you're raising money for or use the money on their behalf: Tiffany Curci has designated Shelly Higgins (on behalf of Higgins family) as sole beneficiary of these gofundme donations.