CANCER SUCKS! Where do I start? Last year really showed me how strong my wife is. It’s not that I didn’t already have an idea, as we’ve been married for 45 years and I’ve known Sandy since she was 12 years old. The challenges of normal everyday life can be handled with either a positive outlook or a negative one. For her whole life, Sandy has chosen to be positive. She’s one of those people who always try to have a smile on their face. She often says that “if this is the worst thing that happens to me, I’ll consider myself lucky. A lot of people are way worse off than me!” Of course she’s right; there will always be someone who is going through something more tragic. Sandy is also the one everyone gravitates to. No matter where we are, people who don’t know her will come up and talk to her like they’ve known her their entire life lol. I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard a stranger tell her “you seem so happy” as they walk away with a smile that wasn’t there before. It sounds cliché, but she has that positive aura that everyone wants to be a part of. Which brings me to the past year, and the purpose of this GoFundMe request. Sandy has a pretty serious medical issue that is currently being monitored by an excellent oncologist. It is something that can’t be cured, but as long as it’s monitored and addressed on a continual basis, there is a good chance that it will not become something worse. Unfortunately, one of the treatments that the oncologist prescribed a year or so ago was a cream that Sandy calls “the cream from hell!” It was being used to stop the spread of the cancer cells and to localize them so that surgery could be performed. The prescription was supposed to be self-administered over a 3-month timeframe, but Sandy was so sensitive to the treatment and it was so painful, that it took Sandy 7 months to finish the prescription. One of the potential side effects of this cream was that it could possibly lower her autoimmune response. Well, it did—to the point of affecting all her teeth! Sandy didn’t have strong teeth to begin with, and this cream made them weaker and start to rot out. She went to a few different dentists, and they all said the same thing: All her teeth needed to be removed, and she would need to get either implants or dentures for her entire mouth. Unfortunately, with our financial situation, implants were not even a remote possibility. Even the cost of dentures from a “regular” dentist was way out of our price range. So we elected to go to the UConn School of Dentistry in Farmington and have all the work performed by dental students (being supervised by actual dentists). Even going this route (while it is less expensive) has put a tremendous financial burden on us. Sandy has gone there 7 times so far and will probably have to go another 3 or 4 times before everything is completed. To add to the financial stress, as of 1/1/2026 the dental school is no longer covered in our dental plan! So every time she goes in and they need to do another surgery on the bones that are protruding from her gums, we are responsible for the payment of the visit. At this point, our limited savings are gone, and our daughters have been trying to help. UGH! That smile and positive outlook that helped define Sandy’s being are virtually gone. While she has dealt well with the physical pain (and this ordeal has given her plenty), it’s the emotional strain that seems to be affecting her more profoundly. Creating this GoFundMe account was not an easy decision for us, and we have been talking about it for over a year. I certainly understand that this may not be the best time to be asking for financial help. I get it. But if there’s any way you can help out, it would be greatly appreciated by both of us! Thank you for reading.