Support the Rudebaughs (Marella's One Wish)
Donation protected
For the "skimmers" out there, here's the TL;DR (too long; didn't read):
Our friend, Marella, has stage 4 brain cancer. She has a husband and three kids aged 16, 13, 11. The outlook is not great and we're raising funds to cover everything that comes along with a brain cancer diagnosis + extra funds (hopefully a lot extra) to bless their family and fulfill Marella's "One Wish."
Read on for all the details. Or just go ahead and donate. Far be it from us to stop you if you've already read enough and feel led to donate. ;)
P.S. If you can only donate $3 or less, do it. No shame. We're happy to have you on board. A gift is a gift, no matter the size.
If you want to avoid processing fees, contact us to donate via Venmo, Zelle, etc, so your entire gift can go to the Rudebaughs.
P.P.S. Here's a short Instagram reel (1:30) that gives a quick–and even humorous–overview of what we're trying to accomplish.
My husband, Jon, and I (Melinda) are raising funds for our friend of 17 years, Marella Rudebaugh. Marella has stage IV brain cancer, specifically a glioblastoma. She and her husband, Mark, have three kids: Lilah, age 16, Conner, age 13, and Gavin, age 11.
Marella's undergone 6 weeks of radiation, then chemotherapy. At this point, the future outlook is...not great. But, we're praying for the best outcome and doing what we can to help.
WHERE YOUR DONATION GOES
- A dream family trip for the Rudebaughs
- Medical bills (radiation, chemo, surgery, MRI, trips to the ER, etc)
- Living expenses (food, gas, housing, etc, for a family of 5)
- Fixing damage in their home from an unfortunate flood that occurred January 2024
- To help fulfill “Marella’s One Wish” event (scroll for details below)
These expenses add up. We’ll go into more detail below.
Dream Trip:
How much does it cost to send a family 5 on a really meaningful, bucket-list-type-of-trip that they'll remember for the rest of their lives? If we take into consideration the cost of airfare for five people, meals, accommodations, souvenirs, and fun extras to treat themselves, the cost adds up.
Hawaii is on their list of places to visit. But maybe they’ll decide on an international trip.
There’s also the cost of updating to REAL IDs and getting passports for everyone, dependent upon the destination.
Ultimately, we want this to be the trip of trips where they can create core memories they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.
Medical Bills:
In late Oct 2023, Marella found out she had a brain tumor after numerous aura episodes. She’s endured trips to the ER, an MRI, a brain biopsy, six weeks of radiation, chemotherapy…plus more that we probably don’t know about. The fact of the matter is: Cancer is expensive.
We’ve set the donation amount at 50K, which seems high, but it’s not considering the expenses listed above.
Living Expenses:
Marella is unable to work during this time and Mark is under a hefty load as he works, runs the kids to their activities and appointments, drives Marella to her appointments, grocery shops, feeds the kids, and runs errands.
He does it lovingly, but it's a lot for one person to handle. Let's lighten his load.
Flood Damage
In early January 2024, the Rudebaughs discovered that their upstairs toilet had been running nonstop for at least three hours, which soaked the floor and ran into the downstairs living area. As you can imagine, this created massive damage to the ceiling, carpet, and sheetrock.
As if they didn’t have enough to deal with, this unfortunate incident added insult to injury.
It’s not cheap to replace your flooring and fix a giant hole in your ceiling…and more.
LIGHTEN THE LOAD
In situations like this, there's a lot of worry and emotional stress. Someone once paid for a large expense for me and Jon, saying, "I don't want you to have to worry."
So let's do the same thing for them. Let our gifts tell the Rudebaughs, "We don't want you to worry."
If you’d like to help send the Rudebaughs on a dream trip, help pay for medical & living expenses + flood damage repair, all while putting a smile on Marella’s face with a truly memorable event that overflows with blessing via “Marella’s One Wish,” please donate to their GoFundMe.
Life is hard and will throw things at you that you never imagined you'd experience. If it's in your power to show kindness and bless someone, do it.
THE STORY BEHIND MARELLA'S ONE WISH
We recently visited Marella and asked her for a list of her favorite things so we could come bearing gifts. She gave us a wishlist from her kids but didn’t ask for anything for herself. We chuckled at the random assortment of items her kids asked for:
- Seasoned croutons
- Cheese Head brand string cheese
- Simply brand orange juice
- Flat Stanley books
But no wish list from Marella. She didn't ask for anything for herself!!
—Until we arrived at her home.
When we got there, she surprised us with her one wish, saying her "only wish is for Jon to cut his hair and mustache."
Mic drop. What?!
You want Jon Holland–who has three years of covid hair growth–to cut his hair? And the mustache, too? Lol.
Okay, what a plot twist. Didn't expect that!
How can we say no to that?! We can't say no to that.
Marella's not a fan of Yanni Jonny and her one wish is to turn Yanni Jonny back into James Bondy Jonny.
Jon, circa 2017.
So long, “man bun.”
What Marella wants, Marella gets.
Marella and her daughter, Lilah, even approved a new hair style for Jon: Tom Holland’s tousled look in Spiderman: Far From Home. Specifically, the kissing scene at the end. Lol.
Goodbye, lions's mane.
It’s time to turn Jon Holland…into Tom Holland.
MAKING "MARELLA'S ONE WISH" COME TRUE
For obvious reasons, Marella isn't traveling much these days. So here's what we're envisioning: A special event at Marella’s home where we make her wish come true. At the same time, we'd like this to be an opportunity to raise money for the Rudebaugh family.
The Rudebaugh's have hosted several events over the years, creating space for community and connection. Let’s show up for them. We'll give Marella an event surrounded by family, friends, and supporters as she watches her "one wish" come true: Jon shaving his mustache and getting his hair cut.
Jon has agreed to this & Marella is okay with having people at her home.
EVENT DETAILS
We're envisioning a table full of refreshments, a stylist to transform Jon's hair, and a videographer & photographer to document the event.
We don’t know how all this is all going to pan out, all we know is we have a vision for a really special gathering with food, drinks, and laughter. We want to see Marella smile as she watches her wish unfold, surrounded by people who love and support her.
IN ORDER TO HELP MAKE THIS WISH COME TRUE, WE NEED HELP WITH A FEW THINGS:
1. [UPDATE: Stylist found!]
If you know a skilled stylist who can transform luscious long hair into luscious short hair, contact us here on GoFundMe. Maybe that’s you. Maybe it’s someone you know.
The stylist must be willing to travel about 45 mins north of Portland, OR, to Marella's beautiful property to cut Jon’s hair.
2. [UPDATE: Videographer found but no photographer yet.] If you’ve got videography/photography talent, we'd love your documenting skills. We want to capture this moment and share it with anyone who can’t be there but wants to be a part of the fun. Contact us on GoFundMe.
[UPDATE: Event is set to take place in late Sept 2024.] Time is of the essence. We’d like this event to take place in late Aug or September 2024.
WHY DONATE?
Maybe cancer has touched your life in one form or another, and you understand the specific physical and emotional toll it takes on you/your family/your friends and colleagues to go through something like this.
As previously stated, it's also an enormous financial toll. Please donate to Marella's GoFundMe and/or share this page to help get the word out. People want to help, but they can't help if they don't know about it.
MAYBE YOU JUST WANT JON TO CUT HIS HAIR ALREADY
Maybe you’re like Melinda's sister, Rachel, who knew Jon with short hair and would really like his hair short again.
Why not fulfill Marella’s wish AND your wish AT THE SAME TIME? It’s a win-win.
Maybe you're curious what Jon looks like with short hair and this thing amuses you. You're saying to yourself, "Sure, I'll toss a couple bucks toward this. Amuse me."
We'll take it. Every little bit helps.
YOU'RE TRYING TO RAISE 50K?!! THAT'S KINDA HIGH, DONCHA THINK?
$50,000 does sound like a lot. And, honestly, we have doubts that we'll get anywhere close to that.
But help our unbelief.
Show us that there are people out there...
- who care
- who want to help
- who have the means to donate to Marella and her family.
Somebody already completely shocked us by writing this check. They don't even know Marella. We shared her story and our vision for this fundraising event and less than 24 hours later, they gave us this check for the Rudebaugh family saying, "Now they can go on a nice trip."
WHAT?! This gives us hope.
We're now counting on all of you to help make Marella's wish come true, plus shock them to pieces by reaching the 50K goal. Who knows, maybe we'll even go over. Now THAT would completely blow our minds.
It's okay if you can't donate. Pray that this fast-growing tumor will miraculously disappear and please share their GoFundMe. People like to help, but they can’t help if they don’t know.
And there's no shame in giving a few bucks. Every gift is an act of generosity and love. Tiny kindnesses are still kindnesses. So give!
We'll leave you with the talented Rudebaugh siblings singing a cover of Jeremy Camp's "Right Here", filmed in Spring 2024.
We don't know how they can get through this song with their mom videoing and everything they're going through. Just incredible.
Co-organizers (3)
Melinda Holland
Organizer
Kalama, WA
Mark Rudebaugh
Beneficiary
Jon-Michael Holland
Co-organizer