To anyone who made it here, thank you. My name is Michele, my cousin Alexis and her fiance are going through a hell of an ordeal that feels utterly surreal and has left both of them unable to work and pay bills with potentially mounting medical debt as Sergio is also uninsured.

It started in March when Alexis began experiencing severe abdominal pain. She went to the doctor and was told it was just an ovarian cyst and would go away on its own. The pain became so severe that in August, her PCP sent her to the ER, believing she had appendicitis, but instead they found a large ovarian mass. It last measured 18cm (thats the size of a baby watermelon) in 9/30.

They haven't been able to rule out malignancy and will biopsy the tumor once it's removed on 11/14 with recovery taking up to 6 weeks. She was in such severe pain, she ultimately couldn't function and left her full time job at a pediatric office at the end of September. They were planning to rely on her fiance, Sergio's, income in the meantime until she could return to work.

However, back in June, Sergio came down with what he thought was the flu. It persisted, but since Sergio didn't have insurance, he ignored it thinking it would eventually go away. Finally at the end of September, at the insistence of Alexis, he went to the ER after his symptoms worsened to include severe night sweats, weight loss, and a severely increased heart rate. During that ER visit they found a nodule in his throat and said it was nothing to worry about and sent him home with a follow up.

By October his symptoms became unbearable, making three more trips to the ER where his condition was repeatedly dismissed and sent home. By the 4th ER visit they pushed for a CT scan where they finally found a large mediastinal mass in his chest that is connected to the mass on his thyroid. They admitted him, but its taken a full week and two biopsies to get conclusive results.

On 11/10, they finally got the results they suspected but were hoping it wasn't. Sergio was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma at 32 years old. He is currently waiting to start first his round of chemotherapy in the next few days once they place his port tomorrow. He'll receive his first round in the hospital and may have to stay an additional 5 to 7 days after.

Both Alexis and Sergio were and are hard workers and amazing people. Sergio was working as a full time service technician at Subaru and was hoping to support Alexis through her own surgery and cancer fears, as that is still pending biopsy results. When Sergio can return to work is undetermined and they aren't even sure if his position will be held for him when he's finally cleared. Alexis hopes to return to work before Christmas if she can. Sergio doesn't currently have health insurance, but is in process of hopefully being approved for medicaid, fortunately Alexis does have insurance.

However, since neither of them are working, both are concerned about losing their apartment which is also a part time home for Alexis' 12 year old daughter, with whom she has split custody, and paying for Sergio's car they share.

Family, myself included, are strapped. We have and do help where we can but its just not enough. It sucks to have to do this in this country, but they are good people and don't deserve this hell-storm that has descended them. Any amount helps, even if it just allows them to keep their apartment. Thanks for taking the time if you got this far.