Seven months ago, Mike was diagnosed, for a second time, with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Most of you know my brother as the most giving and generous person you can hope to know and if you need anything he’s the first person to jump up and help. He is a loving father, husband, brother, uncle, cousin, son, and friend but right now, he needs our help.  
 

Mike is a salesman for a wholesale plumbing supply company and during his treatment he has been able to work part-time from his hospital bed but as a commissioned salesman his prospect pipeline is dwindling and even with insurance his medical bills are piling up. Although he is being released from the hospital soon, because of the type of work he does visiting construction sites (risk of infection is very high) he will be unable to go back to work fully for about another five months. Although his wife Laura works, Mike needs help paying his medical bills ($28,000), filling in the gap in take-home pay from lack of commissions ($18,000), and unexpected expenses ($10,000) during this recovery period.  
 
He would never ask for financial help but the goal of this Go Fund Me account is to help reduce his financial stress so he can focus on getting better. Any contribution you are able to donate will help him tremendously. Mike has already received many blessings and is so grateful for the help already received but he still needs our help making ends meet and with day-to-day expenses. I think he expressed his gratitude better than I, so here are his own words:  
 
 “ I ​love ​to give to others especially my time and the skills God has blessed me with. I have never been in a position were I have needed to receive help because I couldn’t provide for my family or complete a project on my own. Even 4 years ago, going through chemo for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma the first time, I was still able to do everything I needed to do. But in the last six months, again fighting Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, God has taught me so much about the goodness of people and in the last month God has really shown me how to ask for help and be open to receiving blessings.  
 
Here are the events of the last 30 days which have blown me away and for which I will forever be grateful. Three days into my stem cell treatment, Taia was t-boned in a car accident and the car was totaled. Thankfully other than being shaken up,stiff and sore, she and her friend were okay. The next day, Taia’s friend’s parents (the friend that was in the car when she was hit) told us they were going to give us their old Mitsubishi Eclipse because they were not using it and were planning on getting rid of it. This is something that they thought was small but to us was huge! Taia needs the car to get back and forth to school and work and being stuck in the hospital I was completely and utterly helpless. It was huge not just because they gave us a car but because I know the Dad and I know the car is safe! 
 
Then last week, while going through the discharge information from the hospital, we found out that because of one of our pets (also known as Bad Doggy) we needed to remove all the main level carpeting from our house - about 900 sq ft. And we also had to stop using our swamp cooler (our only source of cooling) because it can harbor mold and mildew. Those who know me well, know I’m a polar bear (even after all the chemo) so I need cooling. And we need to have these issues handled before I can go home and I can’t do any of this work myself because of the risk of infection. (Information that would have been nice to have months ago when we started this process so we could plan for it.) Freaking out, I called two amazing friends that own respective flooring and HVAC businesses. When I explained the situation and told them we have no extra cash they offered to help by covering the costs for flooring materials and all labor plus squeezing it into their already busy schedules to get it done within the next 10 days. We are so blessed and humbled. Saying “Thank you” doesn’t even begin to express how loved we feel. 

The devil is trying hard to bring us down but God has put people in our life to carry us! In this season that we are going through I could focus on the negatives and complain about being stuck in a hospital or hotel and not being able to take care of my family but I chose to see the good that is happening all around us and spread that word to people. Letting you know that God is giving me the strength to reach out and ask for help and then take care of us! As always we are humbled and appreciate all the love, good vibes and prayer. People are amazing!