Love for the Leonharts
Donation protected
Hey friends!
As many of you know our dear friend Jennifer is fighting stage-four colon cancer, and her family needs assistance with the financial burden that comes with this battle.
Anyone who knows Jennifer knows she always puts her kids and her husband before herself. She has a quiet strength about her, and her faith in Christ is evident in her service and devotion to them. As a friend of the family, I am reaching out to you, asking that you come alongside them in prayer and financial support.
I know it has been a difficult year for many people, but I ask that you donate whatever you are able to our friends. Your assistance will help them through this difficult and painful time as they trust in Lord.
Jennifer’s husband Billy has written their story and I would like to share with you all.
Standing alone in the surgery waiting room, having just received the news, I allowed myself to cry for the first time since this whole ordeal begun. We had been waiting on the biopsy report to come back from the physician who discovered the mass in Jen's colon, and we had missed a call from him just before she went into surgery to have it removed. The surgeon tasked with removing the mass officed in the same building with the physician who'd done the biopsy, so when he came to announce that Jen was in recovery, I asked him if there had been any news on the biopsy.
"It's cancer," he stated quite matter-of-factly.
"Do we know what stage?" I plodded.
"Stage four."
'Jennifer has already been through so much,' I thought. 'Now this.' Let me explain. I have been married to my wife for 20 years. When I say she's been through a lot, I don't mean just in the months leading up to the cancer diagnosis.
I met Jennifer, two years before she graduated from Tarleton State University with her BS in Business, and we married just one semester from her graduation. After graduation, we moved to Fort Worth where she started a career in banking, but I was struggling to find a decent paying job while working at a local grocery store. After much discussion, Jennifer reluctantly agreed to let me join the Army Reserve where I became a medic. I was gone to training for six months and, shortly after returning home from training, I was deployed to Germany for a year. Our first six years of marriage were tumultuous to say the least.
In 2008, I was in training for another year-long deployment (this time to Kuwait) when Jennifer called me to let me know we were expecting our first child. We agreed that I would ask for a raise when I got home from Kuwait so that Jen could stay home with our children. I took leave six months into the deployment to spend two weeks with Jennifer and our newborn baby. Through most of that pregnancy and the first six months of Norah's infancy, Jen was all alone.
When we got home, I got that promotion, but no raise, so we packed up our stuff, rented out our house to some church friends, and moved onto campus at Southwestern Seminary. We lived on campus while I worked, went to school, and collected the G.I. Bill. During that time, our second child (Liam) was born and, shortly after earning my BA in Humanities, we moved back into our old house, and I got a job with a Chick-fil-A in Fort Worth as a Shift Leader. Jennifer would lovingly support me through that, one more job change, and the birth of our third child (Livy), before we had to move yet again.
This time, we moved three and a half hours away so that I might accept a call to the pastorate in San Angelo, TX. While we witnessed God accomplishing some amazing feats in the church there, it was still a very small church. Jen worked diligently to network within the community and to homeschool the kids while I pastored the church and worked a full-time job. Our marriage underwent some of its most intense testing during those years.
After succumbing to the financial pressure of bi-vocational ministry, we ultimately decided to move back to Fort Worth. Moving back, I got a job with my old Operator at Chick-fil-A and started down the path of becoming an Operator myself. I was quickly promoted from Shift Leader to Director and, last August, Jennifer and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. We planned (God-willing) to have all our debt paid down, have some money in savings, and for me to submit my application for operatorship by the end of this year. Jennifer had even taken on a part time job to help pay down the debt, and it worked. We are completely debt free!
However, this past December, Jen started having sharp stomach pains that would not subside. These pains seemed to get worse and worse until eventually she could no longer tolerate food. After seeing two different doctors, she set up an appointment for a colonoscopy. That was postponed twice, because our family got COVID, and then Texas froze over for a week with rolling blackouts. All the while, I watched my wife of 20 years losing a lot of weight, being unable to eat.
The colonoscopy revealed that Jen had a mass in her colon. Our thoughts instantly went to cancer, but neither of us dared to say as much to one another. A week later, here I found myself in the surgery waiting room, all alone, having just heard the news: stage four colon cancer.
Months later, thanks to some very generous new friends, we are now living in a 480 sq. ft. cottage—rent and utility free—in Willis, TX. While we are grateful for the hospitality of our host family, we are keenly aware that we will likely need to look for more permanent housing. We got approved for financial assistance from MD Anderson for the medical side of things, but there are other concerns in regard to housing, bills, and time I will need to take off from work to care for Jennifer and to help with the education of the children. We have been told that the current chemo she is on will likely end with her dying of liver disease in 5 years or less. However, with an impending surgery, we have been informed she will have a 25% chance of survival.
After the surgery, Jennifer will be on chemo yet again, and may not be able to work or continue homeschooling the kids. A friend has offered to set up this GoFundMe for us. We have been advised to provide you all with as much information as possible, and to request a year's worth of expenses, plus emergency money just in case.
This is a unique situation for us, because while we know that I will not be able to work full-time like before, we also don't know what exactly our expenses will be moving forward. It's an odd situation to be in to be asking for money for the next year knowing that you need it starting now, but not knowing precisely how much. We simply pray that the Lord would put it on your heart to be generous and trust that we will put whatever we receive to an honorable use. Thank you in advance for considering a contribution to this GoFundMe.
With the deepest of sincerity and gratitude,
Billy & Jennifer Leonhart
As many of you know our dear friend Jennifer is fighting stage-four colon cancer, and her family needs assistance with the financial burden that comes with this battle.
Anyone who knows Jennifer knows she always puts her kids and her husband before herself. She has a quiet strength about her, and her faith in Christ is evident in her service and devotion to them. As a friend of the family, I am reaching out to you, asking that you come alongside them in prayer and financial support.
I know it has been a difficult year for many people, but I ask that you donate whatever you are able to our friends. Your assistance will help them through this difficult and painful time as they trust in Lord.
Jennifer’s husband Billy has written their story and I would like to share with you all.
Standing alone in the surgery waiting room, having just received the news, I allowed myself to cry for the first time since this whole ordeal begun. We had been waiting on the biopsy report to come back from the physician who discovered the mass in Jen's colon, and we had missed a call from him just before she went into surgery to have it removed. The surgeon tasked with removing the mass officed in the same building with the physician who'd done the biopsy, so when he came to announce that Jen was in recovery, I asked him if there had been any news on the biopsy.
"It's cancer," he stated quite matter-of-factly.
"Do we know what stage?" I plodded.
"Stage four."
'Jennifer has already been through so much,' I thought. 'Now this.' Let me explain. I have been married to my wife for 20 years. When I say she's been through a lot, I don't mean just in the months leading up to the cancer diagnosis.
I met Jennifer, two years before she graduated from Tarleton State University with her BS in Business, and we married just one semester from her graduation. After graduation, we moved to Fort Worth where she started a career in banking, but I was struggling to find a decent paying job while working at a local grocery store. After much discussion, Jennifer reluctantly agreed to let me join the Army Reserve where I became a medic. I was gone to training for six months and, shortly after returning home from training, I was deployed to Germany for a year. Our first six years of marriage were tumultuous to say the least.
In 2008, I was in training for another year-long deployment (this time to Kuwait) when Jennifer called me to let me know we were expecting our first child. We agreed that I would ask for a raise when I got home from Kuwait so that Jen could stay home with our children. I took leave six months into the deployment to spend two weeks with Jennifer and our newborn baby. Through most of that pregnancy and the first six months of Norah's infancy, Jen was all alone.
When we got home, I got that promotion, but no raise, so we packed up our stuff, rented out our house to some church friends, and moved onto campus at Southwestern Seminary. We lived on campus while I worked, went to school, and collected the G.I. Bill. During that time, our second child (Liam) was born and, shortly after earning my BA in Humanities, we moved back into our old house, and I got a job with a Chick-fil-A in Fort Worth as a Shift Leader. Jennifer would lovingly support me through that, one more job change, and the birth of our third child (Livy), before we had to move yet again.
This time, we moved three and a half hours away so that I might accept a call to the pastorate in San Angelo, TX. While we witnessed God accomplishing some amazing feats in the church there, it was still a very small church. Jen worked diligently to network within the community and to homeschool the kids while I pastored the church and worked a full-time job. Our marriage underwent some of its most intense testing during those years.
After succumbing to the financial pressure of bi-vocational ministry, we ultimately decided to move back to Fort Worth. Moving back, I got a job with my old Operator at Chick-fil-A and started down the path of becoming an Operator myself. I was quickly promoted from Shift Leader to Director and, last August, Jennifer and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. We planned (God-willing) to have all our debt paid down, have some money in savings, and for me to submit my application for operatorship by the end of this year. Jennifer had even taken on a part time job to help pay down the debt, and it worked. We are completely debt free!
However, this past December, Jen started having sharp stomach pains that would not subside. These pains seemed to get worse and worse until eventually she could no longer tolerate food. After seeing two different doctors, she set up an appointment for a colonoscopy. That was postponed twice, because our family got COVID, and then Texas froze over for a week with rolling blackouts. All the while, I watched my wife of 20 years losing a lot of weight, being unable to eat.
The colonoscopy revealed that Jen had a mass in her colon. Our thoughts instantly went to cancer, but neither of us dared to say as much to one another. A week later, here I found myself in the surgery waiting room, all alone, having just heard the news: stage four colon cancer.
Months later, thanks to some very generous new friends, we are now living in a 480 sq. ft. cottage—rent and utility free—in Willis, TX. While we are grateful for the hospitality of our host family, we are keenly aware that we will likely need to look for more permanent housing. We got approved for financial assistance from MD Anderson for the medical side of things, but there are other concerns in regard to housing, bills, and time I will need to take off from work to care for Jennifer and to help with the education of the children. We have been told that the current chemo she is on will likely end with her dying of liver disease in 5 years or less. However, with an impending surgery, we have been informed she will have a 25% chance of survival.
After the surgery, Jennifer will be on chemo yet again, and may not be able to work or continue homeschooling the kids. A friend has offered to set up this GoFundMe for us. We have been advised to provide you all with as much information as possible, and to request a year's worth of expenses, plus emergency money just in case.
This is a unique situation for us, because while we know that I will not be able to work full-time like before, we also don't know what exactly our expenses will be moving forward. It's an odd situation to be in to be asking for money for the next year knowing that you need it starting now, but not knowing precisely how much. We simply pray that the Lord would put it on your heart to be generous and trust that we will put whatever we receive to an honorable use. Thank you in advance for considering a contribution to this GoFundMe.
With the deepest of sincerity and gratitude,
Billy & Jennifer Leonhart
Organizer and beneficiary
Brent Ward
Organizer
Duncanville, TX
William Leonhart
Beneficiary
