We all want new years to start off big and bright, but sometimes those just aren't the cards we're dealt. Cass Bray, everyone's favorite shadow weaving king and my beloved housemate ghoul, has been diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma present in two malignant tumors in her back. She's begun meeting with a care team and there are treatment plans being put in place, but it's a whole situation and we could use some support.

In the coming weeks and months, Cass is looking at three major areas of treatment. The first is multiple rounds of analytic testing and panels including two CT scans, coming in at approximately $4700. Radiation treatments will take place in at least five rounds over the next few months and are estimated at about $5000. And then there's a classic medical big scary- surgery. The simpler of two necessary surgeries to remove the largest tumor is currently slated for the end of February. Another surgery, made more complicated by the second tumor's proximity to the spine, will follow and the current low estimate for these excisions is around $4000. We're at the early stages of the whole affair, which is great for her prognosis but means a lot is still up in the air. Cass has already begun paying out of pocket for the procedures that brought her to the diagnosis, but the financial reality of what's still to come is obviously daunting.

I've been lucky enough to call Cass one of my primary sources of support, inspiration, and joy for the last five years that we've lived together. We've made a home in our moderately run down apartment, but they also have such a home in my heart. In true earth sign fashion, we've got shit to do and it's going to get done- but we know enough to know that this kind of thing doesn't happen alone. Anyone that knows Cass has seen and felt that they bring so much magic and care to their art and their community, and right now they could use for some of that magic to find its way back to them.