Allen and Deb's medical expenses

Our parents are the hardest working people we know. They are the last people to ask for a handout, but are the first to give one. Sharing their story and asking for help was not something they wanted to do, but it was our idea because it is now a necessity.

At the end of 2012 our mother, Deb Kreutzer, was diagnosed with breast cancer. What should have been a simple lumpectomy followed by radiation turned into a 2 year nightmare involving dying tissue, daily hyperbaric chamber treatments, a blood clot disorder, and ultimately ended in a mastectomy with a 10 hour reconstructive surgery in August 2014. Finding no more cancer, mom and dad started to breathe a little easier. Shortly thereafter, in February 2015 our dad, Allen Kreutzer, started having trouble swallowing. After several trips to the ER, multiple rounds of medication and a upper GI scope in April, we convinced dad to get a second opinion. That was delayed by mom's compression fracture and the discovery of 4 largeTarlov cysts on her spine, but finally in November 2015, dad was able to come to KC for another GI scope and CT scan, in which they found Stage 3 esophageal cancer. The aggressive treatment and surgery has made dad unable to work since the diagnosis. With continually mounting medical bills and only one income, that would seem bad enough. The final blow came recently when mom's Tarlov cyst specialist announced he is closing his Kansas City practice in May, and dad will not yet be healed enough to go back to work full-time. If she doesn't have the surgery before then, the likelihood of correcting her condition before it becomes permanently debilitating is slim. They are now faced with the choice of having no income at all or mom doesn't get her surgery and will eventually be in a wheelchair. The two hardest working people we know are now unable to work. If you know our parents, you know they've spent their lives putting others before themselves. We now turn to you, our family and friends, to humbly ask for your generosity in a very difficult time.