Help Newlyweds Fight For a Future #Cancer Sucks!

Hi, My name is Laurie Hodgkiss Bennett and I'm trying to raise funds to help get Jason Bennett the best possible cancer treatment available and fight to save his life.

My husband and I are normally pretty private when it comes to our personal lives and the lives of our kiddos, so bear with me if this seems awkwardly written. Jason isn’t much on writing and hasn’t been feeling too great lately so I figured I would make this for him.

*A bit of a backstory*

A year ago, almost to the date I was a single mom with 3 kids, ages 11, 9, and 1. As you could probably imagine, I stayed super busy between being mom and working full time with the local sheriff’s department. I was far to busy to think about dating or anything really. My kids had gotten a puppy (love him now but did NOT want/need the extra mouth to feed) and he needed de-wormer. So, the 4 of us loaded up and went to Tractor Supply in town to find some. I was a ball of stress as usual trying to get pet supplies, wrangle 3 overly excited kids, and find this product I knew nothing about. Anyways, we go to turn the shopping cart down the aisle it was supposed to be on and almost ran over someone! It was Jason Bennett which had lived 2 houses down from me my entire childhood. I instantly turn beet red as I had nearly ran him over and partially because I has also secretly crushed on him since I was 14 or so. He could see I was completely lost in this pet owner scene and so he helped us find what we needed. Then being the gentleman he is, offered me his number in case I had any more dog questions and needed guidance in future. We say goodbye and as I wheeled my troop towards the exit my kids loudly ask me why I am all red and talking funny…. Gotta love their lack of filter smh. (Btw Jason could still hear and was laughing from another aisle) Anyways after a few days I got a Facebook request from him and a message asking about the puppy. Amazes me how God just drops things into our laps out of nowhere and it is just what was needed all along.. Since that day we haven’t spent a day without contact. Pretty soon we began dating and he officially met my little ones And they Didn’t scare him off!! He just fit us. For the first time since my divorce and my father's passing the empty spot in my family and my heart was slowly being filled, the kids felt it to. In February the next year he proposed. We all 4 ACCEPTED! By May, we were married. But our ‘Happily Ever After’ lasted about 5 months it seems…I share this part of our story so you can hopefully follow this fast-paced fairytale and just how much it means to all of us.

Fast forward to two and a half weeks ago, October 26th. I just drove up the drive from work with my oldest daughter, Evie. We hadn’t made it to the door yet when we heard someone coming outside. The door flew open, and my husband fell out of the doorway onto his knees. He was convulsing and could barely speak, each word was slurred and making no sense. We got him in the truck and to the SMC ER in minutes. I thought it was a stroke for sure. So did the doctors there at first until they checked the brain scan for damages. That’s when they saw the mass in his brain…yup, I sometimes wish it had been a stroke now. So, they ambulanced him to a larger hospital with an MRI machine that could give us more information than they were equipped to do at their small facility. Family members came and took my girls, who were pretty shaken up, since hospitals aren’t much of a place for kids. My son and I followed the EMT’s. After the MRI results were read by our doctors, we got thrown the punch of a lifetime with 3 words...’Jason has cancer”. Jason had a tumor behind the left frontal lobe which had caused a massive seizure that day not a stroke. Two days later it was surgically removed which was great except it was only a secondary tumor. We learned then that primary tumors that start in the brain are rare in adults, so along with a biopsy, more tests and scans followed in search of the primary tumor hiding somewhere in his body. Scans showed another mass in his right lung. Writing this I can still see the bruising on my knees from hitting them so hard for sooo long by his hospital bed in prayer that night! I don’t think I have ever prayed so hard in my life except when I kneeled beside my father’s bed before he died. Jason made it through surgery like it was nothing. He is amazingly strong in so many ways. Even haggled with the neurosurgeon into letting him go home the Day After Brain Surgery so I would be home because he figured I would be less stressed once I was there with the kids again. *Disclaimer to his mom: I was unaware of this deal they made until we were halfway home already. So that one is all on him Lol*

WHERE WE ARE NOW:

We met with Jason’s oncology team Thursday the 11th and were given the diagnosis of Stage IV Adenocarcinoma or NSCLC stage 4. They are proposing an aggressive treatment plan of chemotherapy and radiation at the same time starting in the next 2 weeks. He told me from day 1 He Wants to Fight no matter the odds to not leave his family! There are other treatments for cancer I have spent hours every night pouring over many of them but none that fit us which we can afford and/or easily get to as they are out of state and Medicaid doesn’t cover other states. Even doing the treatment plan we received here, the current cost of gas and him not able to work right now have the out-of-pocket expenses Already pressing down on us. My job THANK God! has been a huge blessing by allowing me to do my work remotely but my hours are often less due to hospital stays, driving him to appointments, and taking care of his medical needs here, etc.

SO long long story short, I am creating this in hopes that some of you who know my husband Jason or myself, heck even those that don’t, might find it in your heart to help us fight for him. Anyone who knows him can tell you he is the most helpful man in the world and would easily give the shirt off his back for someone in need. He is kind, patient, hardworking, funny, and so considerate that he makes me feel like I’m a terrible mate because I can’t keep up with all the sweet gestures he does for us daily. He is stubborn and goofy and so many other things but above all that, he is my best friend…I just found him I’m not ready to lose him. We want to get a second opinion before we start any treatment so I can get him the very best help possible, but we are quickly running out of time and without treatment the cancers spreads. The cost for just an evaluation where I have looked is around $300 and that is with no scans or labs done. Each new doctor will want to do their own scans I am told. Just one of his MRIs of his head alone was $8,000! We just don’t have that kind of money... Any help in reaching this goal would be so gratefully received! I can’t tell you how much getting to keep him would mean to the kids and I!! Every penny will go to his treatment and care I can promise you that! If you can’t donate and have made it this far into our story, PLEASE please say a prayer for him and for us. Ultimately it is in God’s hands now. Thank you all for reading this and thanks in advance for the help. –Laurie Hodgkiss Bennett