Hi there! I’m a friend of Casey’s and right now it’s difficult to watch her growing family get hit with so many hardships at once. They should be happily preparing for the arrival of their newborn in a few short weeks, but instead they are feeling scared and overwhelmed with stress.

Casey and Mike are independent, resilient and tenacious, but we (Casey’s friends) suggested that it is time to ask their community for help. We asked her permission to set up this fundraiser in order to reduce some of the financial pressure that they face during this difficult time.

Here’s some info from Casey about what has been going on, and why they need all the help they can get right now:

“My husband Michael and I are in a dark place when it should be nothing but light right now. We just hit a magical milestone - our 10 year wedding anniversary- and are preparing to welcome our first baby in 2 weeks. Unfortunately we are not able to celebrate anymore, as we are facing so many uncertainties, hardships, stresses and fears at once.

I (Casey) am a business owner/tattoo artist about to begin maternity leave at 38 weeks pregnant. But it is my husband Michael that has been through the struggle of a lifetime. For the last 8 years, Michael has been battling a long pesky fight with bladder cancer, diagnosed at only 25 years old. Now he needs tumor removal surgery and is simultaneously entering his third clinical trial focused on chemo therapy at John’s Hopkins, just weeks before our beautiful baby is due.

Just so far this year, he has had a triple hernia surgery and 3 cancer surgeries. On top of all of that, this week he was diagnosed with shingles on his face and potentially in his eye. Shingles is not only extremely painful but also due to the proximity to his eye, he is even at risk of losing his vision. Additionally, it’s a dangerous diagnosis to expose to a pregnant woman and newborn, so he has been instructed to keep his distance from us until it heals, which is emotionally devastating for both of us.

Due to his health battles this year, Mike did not work the first 7 months of the year and now can still only work part time due to medical appointments and healing time. Additionally, we had a health insurance plan with United Healthcare, but our plan was abruptly dropped by my OBGYN - so this reduced the prenatal visit coverage. We now have labor and delivery costs looming in the near future, the cost of John’s Hopkins clinical trial that could provide life saving chemo, and after today, the added cost of four ER visits to diagnose and treat Mike’s shingles.

We have been constantly fighting insurance, and it has become impossible to keep up with medical bills. Despite Mike desperately wanting to help, unfortunately due to his current health situation, I am the sole breadwinner at this time, and our savings for my 8 week maternity leave is now drained from so many sudden and unexpected costs.

Right now we cannot fathom how we are going to be able to pay our normal monthly bills for the next 8 weeks with zero income, much less afford the chemo he is scheduled to begin at the start of our newborn’s arrival.

Mike has applied for disability and been denied multiple times. Our income doesn’t qualify us for assistance, but because of his illnesses this year, I’ve been hardly able to keep up month to month.

We just simply need help. Having a newborn is hard enough. Add to this having no income for two months, a husband without work, and cancer - it has become unmanageable for us to tackle all this alone. The bills keep piling up and we don’t know what to do anymore except ask God and our community for help.

Insurance has failed us, the government has failed us, and we have continued working into the ground to make it work, which we both are now incapable of continuing. All we want is to welcome a healthy baby into a healthy home and family.

We are not the type of people to even express what we are going through, much less ask for help. But at this point we are lost, scared, and just plain devastated. Anything, at all, even prayers and grace help immensely. Thank for your time and support.”

If you can’t contribute monetarily, but would still like to help, there’s also a meal train set up for them to help them in the first few weeks after childbirth as well. That link will be shared once the baby comes.

Thank you in advance for your contributions, help, prayers, good vibes and positive energy for Casey, Mike, and Baby Hart!