Help Julie and Chad Overcome Medical Hardships

Hello everyone,

You may or may not know me depending on who has shared this story with you. My name is Sarah Ross, and I am fundraising for my good friend Julie Mason. Julie and her husband Chad have recently been adversely affected financially by unexpected health crises over the last two years. I met Julie at a Bible study almost two years ago, and she was in need of a surgery for a benign tumor behind her ear at that time. She was able to have that surgery, but even after healing from that surgery, something still was not right. She started getting disruptive headaches, and felt unwell a majority of the time. All the while she continued to go to work at her job as a Literacy/Language Intervention Specialist for Elementary students. Chad is an equally hard worker with his full time job, and additionally serving on the security team at our church, but he also had to have a hernia sugery late last year which was another hit on their finances. On March 3rd after a week of unexplained headaches and blurry vision, she was brought to the hospital and had an emergency MRI. The doctors found a pituitary brain tumor. The doctors went straight to work, but the our healhcare system does not work very quickly anymore, and the tests, and the pushed surgery dates, and copay after copay have made it so Julie and her husband are needing to chose between paying their rent, or paying their hospital bills. They have filed for hardship assistance on previous medical bills, but now the pituitary tumor has grown and protruded and has affected other parts of her brain. Everything just keeps piling up. She has been placed on seizure medications, and even with all this she had continued to work until this summer because she needs another surgery to remove this tumor. This tumor is most likely also benign according to her bloodwork, but it is necessary to be removed because it is affecting her brain.

Julie had a tentative surgery date of July 10th, but on July 2nd I received a text from her crying out in frustration because her neurosurgeon cancelled her surgery date. This is extremly detrimental because she could have taken a summer teaching job to supplement income, but she was expecting to have this surgery, heal, and be able to go back to work at the school after summer break. Now it's too late for her to sign up as a summer school teacher, and the surgeon has since pushed the surgery date to August 14th. This is only a few days after the official school year starts up again here in Nevada. This means she will be out of work again (summer break aside) for a minimum of 5 weeks. Julie and Chad have been making every effort to handle this whole situation by themselves, and the stress alone is unhealthy. They didn't even ask for help, but they should not go through this alone. No one should. This is why I am trying to raise funds for the cost of her surgery and medical care by next month which is estimated at $7200, and for 5 weeks of recovery - $2400. I am trying to raise $9600 for them over this next month. Will you please help to meet this need?

Julie and Chad have been on an incredibly stressful journey, and the journey is not completed yet. Julie is absolutely one of the strongest, most courageous women I have ever met. The positive attitude and tenacious support of her family, friends, and students during such a difficult time for herself brings me to tears because she is such an incredible woman of faith. She shows up even when she is suffering, and she has such an amazing heart! I just want to help alleviate this finanicial hardship in every way possible. Please will you help me to bless Julie and Chad so they can focus on taking care of her health and not worrying so much about bills? If you can't donate, will you please share? Will you please share either way?

Thank you so much for your support!