Help Michael Battle Bladder Cancer

Michael is a son, brother, father, grandfather, friend, and coworker to many. For the past ten years, he has worked for Columbia Public Schools as cook. One of his favorite parts of his job was seeing the smiling faces on the children, telling them jokes, and making sure they were fed.

To me, Michael is my father. In 1997, he married my mother and chose to adopt me. Since then he has raised me as his own. My father is strong, funny, smart, and resilient. Growing up, he always ensured my brother and I were well taken care of. I can count on one hand how many times I ever recall him being sick.

However, in February 2021, this all changed. During the middle of the night of 2/26/21, he started having flank pain that was so intense, he chose to go to the ER. Any one who knows my dad, knows that the pain had to be bad as he is not one to go to the doctor unless he has to. What was thought to be kidney stones, ended up being a large mass on his bladder, in addition to kidney stones. On 3/1/21, he underwent a cystoscopy that showed that the tumor covered most of the right bladder wall. On 3/22/21, Michael underwent a transurethral resection of the bladder tumor. After the removal, he was officially diagnosed with High Grade Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Since the diagnosis, Michael has undergone chemotherapy and will soon be having his bladder removed. I have seen my father's health decline rapidly. What was once an individual who would work all day and come home and do chores around the house, is now finding it difficult to even get up to walk around. Due to nausea he is not eating much and is often very tired. Additionally he has had multiple issues with blood clots.

As a family this is very scary and stressful, but I cannot imagine what my father is going through while trying to remain strong for us. Due to the cancer, he has been having difficulty working and thus difficulty paying his monthly bills, in addition to the medical bills that are piling up.

I am humbly requesting any assistance to aid my father with his bills, so as to ease at least one stressor off his shoulders.

Thank you for your time.