Hey Folks, my name is Charles, husband to Beth, and father to 4 girls from ages 4 to 27. We were just a regular family trying to make it in this world until we weren’t. We took our kids to their games, had vacations, went to doctor’s appointments when we didn’t feel ok, and worked more than my wife and I would like, as I’m sure so many of you can relate to. Now, over the course of the last month, what we thought was going to be a manageable, albeit annoying shift in our lives, has become our absolute worst nightmare. This brings me to the real main character of our story slash nightmare, my wife, Beth.

This is a sad, scary, and unexpected nightmare that we pray you consider helping us with. So here is a little about my wonderful wife, Beth. She is an absolute, instrumental piece to our family. She’s an incredible mother, a watchful sister, a thoughtful daughter, and the absolute yin to my yang in our relationship. She is a person of integrity that countless co-workers and residents she has managed will no doubt tell you, she is their go-to person or was at one time. Beth is creative, always thinking about how to make a special event more special for the person it is for. The way she plans out birthdays and holidays and finds the best deals on gifts is nothing short of wizardry. Also, for anyone that knows her, the word STRONG is one of, if not the first word, used to describe her.

So why am I here, typing this story and asking for help? What is the big, scary reason for all of this. Cancer, a very rare, very aggressive cancer that is expected to take Beth from us much sooner than anyone would wish. But it didn’t start there. Over the last 2 years, she has battled weird episodic seizure-like symptoms and has gone from one neurologist to another, meds after meds, and imaging being ordered numerous times, just to come back “normal.” Not knowing where something like this has come from, or what we can do to control them was mentally exhausting to say the least, but we felt like we were about to have positive movement forward after meeting with a new neurologist who ordered new imaging. And this is where the nightmare actually began, on 7/13/23, when we met with our neurologist, who showed that her brain appeared to have metastasized tumors. This led to numerous more imaging, blood work, and consults being ordered.

Just 6 days later, we read results from a recent CT scan that now showed potential tumors in multiple locations in her body. Then, 2 days after that on 7/20/23, Beth reached for her phone that had dropped and had multiple strokes hit 6 different locations in her brain all at once, with the worst one affecting her language center, and we found ourselves in the hospital for the following 6 days. During this stay, we continued learning more bad news all while Beth struggled with severe confusion, memory challenges as well as to find the right words. Even though we were finding out more news, we still didn’t have a diagnosis and the only way for that was to endure a biopsy from one of her tumor sites in her hip, which led to another waiting period of a week. Now, at this most recent appt with a General Oncologist, as the doctor is talking about the biopsy, in passing she tells us that Beth is indeed Stage 4 and has Spindle Cell Sarcoma. The chances of Beth returning to work are practically non-existent at this time from everything we have been told. The doctors still don’t know the origination point of the Sarcoma, so they aren’t sure if we will be able to treat with precision chemotherapy either. We still have a web of doctors to see and hear perspectives from before we can really start any chemotherapy, but we are expected to start radiation therapy very soon.

Beth’s strokes caused her to immediately become incapable of working in any capacity; therefore, removing her income from coming into the household. Additionally, with the broad spread of her sarcoma, and the number of specialists that have to be involved in her treatment and care plan, doctors won’t even share what we may expect to pay with the variety of treatments, but by searching social media and the internet, immunotherapy doses can run anywhere from the 40K range to 100K+.per visit. Chemotherapy is a different cost, radiation another, what the specialists charge, another, and let’s not forget about continued prescription costs. Therefore, we are starting our goal at $250,000 and if more is required, I will edit the post to increase the goal. The simple reality is that her cancer is terminal and the treatments are simply here to help her be more comfortable, while she tries to enjoy watching her babies continue to grow before she no longer can. This leads to our ask. Please donate, and help us reach our goal. If you only have 5 dollars to spare and it won’t cause you hardship, please do so.

Additionally, we have a few more requests. Please share our story with your entire following, whether that is on social media, work, family, or work, please share with everyone. Then, if you’re willing, continue to share it on your social feeds so that it continues to reach as many as it can. We also ask that you please pray if you are the praying type. Pray for my wife’s strength, courage to continue to face this demon, and patience to be present in all she does. Pray for our family, that they find peace in whatever will that God allows. Last, if you’re not a praying type, send us good vibes into the universe. I believe they too, will make it back to us.

For any and all of you that are so inclined to help us get to our goal, share and share again, pray, or otherwise, thank you from the depths of our family’s hearts. Thank you for reading our story and for your kindness.

Charles