This is Bob. I am Janice Dar's husband. I never thought we would be in this situation, but we need help. As most of you know, Janice fell a few weeks ago, shattered her hip, and had to have it replaced. During the course of trying to find out why she fell, they found large masses on her lungs. The biopsies came back as small cell carcinoma. Unfortunately, that is a very aggressive type of cancer. It has metastasized and is in her kidneys, liver, and thyroid, showing up quite clearly on the bone scan that they did.

I am working with hospice to get some of the equipment I'm going to need here. This is absolutely overwhelming me, to be honest. She is the love of my life. I can't sleep without her here. I just wander around until exhaustion puts me to sleep. I plan on doing most of the care myself, but I do know that I will occasionally need to have a break, even if it's only for a couple of hours, which means I'm going to have to hire somebody.

This is not how I envisioned our life going at this stage. And honestly, I'm a complete freaking wreck. I do not know how much longer I am going to have her. I do know her pain is overwhelming at times. Hospice is giving me all the supplies and support possible to control her pain, but it still breaks through, which is heartbreaking. We didn't have plans together for her leaving me first, so I am going to need help when the end comes and even before. I know I'm going to have to take a few breaks as primary caregiver, and I am not able to work right now. My boss did give me unpaid leave, but that leaves us short. Plus, I need to make the final arrangements sooner rather than later, even though the furthest I can force myself to get so far is Googling the local funeral homes. I know her art has touched so many people, and I'm hoping that some of you can spare some money in these tough times to help us out. And even if you can't, just notes of encouragement to her will help lift her spiritually.

If you would please take the time to share this is would greatly appreciated it. Thanks so much