Kristie’s Cancer Crusade

Dear Family and Friends,

I don’t really know where to begin exactly…. The past 6 months have spun us on our heads.

Most of you know Kristie and I met at college and were married soon after that. We started our journey together in good old Watertown, Wisconsin. Kristie and I have been married now for 25 years and have two wonderful children, Emma(18) and Austin(15).

Our anniversary is January 25th. We always talked about going to Italy for our 25th. But the timing wasn’t right with Covid, travel restrictions , and closings. So we set out to look for someplace we’d never been and somewhere in the states. Somehow, we both came across Phoenix, Arizona. Neither of us had ever been there and it checked all the boxes.

It was a great trip. I planned horseback riding in the desert in the south side of Phoenix , a jeep ride through the desert on the north side, and a side by side 4- wheeler ride through the desert on the east side. There’s a lot of desert in Phoenix. Kris and I stayed at the beautiful Fairmount Resort. We even ran into some friends from Lancaster and had some amazing meals together. It was a great time, but Kristie wasn’t quite herself. She had so much stomach pain, she was taking ibuprofen and acetaminophen all the time. And she was fighting nausea.

It was at this point that we knew something was wrong. Kristie suspected a gallbladder problem. She went in for labs as soon as we got back and she could get scheduled. It wasn’t long after she got home that the nurse called her back and said she wasn’t sure what was going on but Kristie needed to get to the ER right away.

Many hours and a few scans later, we heard the doctor explaining to us that it wasn’t her gallbladder and it looked like ovarian cancer. “What!?”, I said. “That’s impossible! Kristie is the healthiest person I know!” There are no words to describe your feelings when you get unexpected news like this. Further tests over the next week and a half in the hospital revealed that cancer was also in her lungs and other areas, giving us the final diagnosis of stage four ovarian cancer.

The last the last 5 months have been a roller coaster. Kristie has had 4 rounds of chemo. She has been in the hospital 4 times with bowel obstructions due to the cancer. And most recently, a major surgery at Johns Hopkins.

The surgery was successful in that they were able to work around some tumors to stop future bowel obstructions. But the surgeons discovered more cancer than they thought and decided it would do more damage to remove the larger tumors and have to leave the smaller, non-operable tumors behind. You can catch the entire, day-by-day story at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kristiecliff. Site Name: kristiecliff. You can also sign up for updates here as we continue our journey. Future chemo treatments will start up again soon in June.

There have been many times we have seen God work and provide in wondrous ways too. Strength to continue. Supportive jobs. DoorDash gifts, Mealtrain meals. Home repairs taken care of. Gas cards in the mailbox. And of course the love , support, and prayers of so many people.

We now have a pretty good landscape of the financial toll all of this takes as well. Of course, we find ourselves with mounting medical bills, ancillary costs, the lost of Kristie’s income, rising costs that everyone is dealing with, and future costs of treatment and care. We have always managed our money well and only have a mortgage and one car payment. But nothing you do can prepare you for such a massive, life changing financial burden.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Pray

Pray for Kristie and the family. She has good days and bad. And emotionally, it can be very hard to deal with not feeling well for a very long time. The kids have tons of support but needs Gods grace every day. Pray for a miracle.

Donate

If you are able, donate by

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God has shown Himself Great and Faithful. We have seen answer to prayer.

We have told our kids, watch how God works and meets our needs. We have experienced the love and generosity of Gods people. We know God will continue to be with us. Thank you in advance for your prayers and support!