Caring & Sharing with Sherry

Hello Kusick family, friends and friends of friends!

We started this GoFundMe out of a desire to love and support our friends, Tom and Sherry Kusick. Many of you have asked and are concerned with helping them through this life-changing journey. I am setting up this GoFundMe page to make it easy for anyone to help because I know it is in your hearts to do so. Prayer is the first priority, and helping with expenses is the next.

In Sept 2021, Sherry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Tom and Sherry have worked as MAPS RV Missionaries (Now Church Mobilization/RV Volunteers), for nearly 5 years, traveling and living in their RV home while they worked with church and missions building projects. After this serious diagnosis, they felt compelled to sell their RV home and find housing near a hospital for care and treatment. It meant they would have to relocate.

After several weeks of chemo, test results showed that the size of the tumor had not decreased. Further scans show the tumor is up against the portal vein requiring surgery with a vascular surgeon involved in the surgery to remove it.

They currently have temporary housing, 2 hours away, in DeMotte IN, but that hospital does not have a vascular surgeon on staff. Tom and Sherry will have to temporarily relocate to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the surgery and recovery at the University of Indiana hospital. At this time, it is uncertain how long Sherry will have to be in or near that hospital. The out-of-pocket costs for them will include renting an apartment or hotel (Avg min. $90/day), parking (Avg $30/day at hotels!!), meals, and transportation. There is a lot of unknown regarding how the surgery goes and what the recovery will involve. Today, Feb 25, the surgeon told Sherry to prepare for 7-10 days in the hospital. Travel, meals, and lodging will be the primary expense initially. I will include anticipated follow-up appointment trips in this estimate.

Initially, we will plan for the potential of a 2-week stay, estimating lodging, parking and meals to be approximately $200 per day. Continuing recovery appointments would be just a guess until they have post-surgery information. We will set the need at up to $5000 and adjust from there. It’s a starting place.

All funds will be distributed directly to Tom and Sherry to have access to what they need, a day at a time, as they need it.

Ultimately, we trust God for all things and pray for her complete recovery. Please pray with us.

Thank you all for loving, sharing and caring for Sherry and Tom during this time.

To stay in the loop with Sherry, you can go to her CaringBridge page.

Here is a link to Sherry’s CaringBridge page so that you can follow their journey https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sherryspancreaticcancerjourney/journals