Hello,

My name is Mariah Schroder and my husband Regan, our son Liam and I are helping to gather donations for a dear friend Lance who is battling Cancer for a second time. He and his family need our help!

The initial goal we have set will help cover current costs, upcoming surgery (God willing), hopefully some living costs explained below. The ongoing care needed will continue to mount as the family navigate the care Lance will need when he returns home.

Please consider making a donation of any amount you can to support this loving, hilarious and kind soul beat Cancer for a second time!!

Below is his story and most updated information about his condition. prognosis and need for financial support from his wife Carrie.

On January 14th, Lance was scooping the driveway when he started getting pretty severe leg pain. The next morning he went to the ER in Bellevue concerned that he had a blood clot but instead they discovered some pretty frightening labs. It was scary enough that the doctors at UNMC had him transported over by ambulance. Later that night he called me with an Oncologist present and we found out together that Lance has High Risk Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. It is a rare and very aggressive form of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. About 12-13 years ago he had brain cancer which he beat but he had radiation and the doctors can't prove but are assuming this directly may have caused the leukemia. Right away that night he had a bone marrow test done, a PICC line placed, and started chemo. We found out that he would have to start treatment immediately due to the fact that this leukemia has a process where the blood will clot and also he could develop bleeds at any time. Making it through this first week was going to be a challenge but this leukemia has a high survival rate if he could beat the first part of the process. Within the first 48 hours he developed a bleed in his brain which caused two strokes and developed blood clots in his lungs. Now because he was both bleeding and clotting the doctors had to really be careful. He developed pneumonia shortly after and he started accumulating a lot of fluid in his lungs and the rest of his body. Due to this, his Oxygen needs increased and he had to be transferred to the ICU. Within 24 hours he was no longer alert. He developed Metabolic Encephalopathy so delirium set in, he didn't know who a lot of people were including me, his wife, and some of his kids. He was very confused and could not tell us what he needed. He was on a very high amount of oxygen, had a catheter, and a feeding tube placed. So at this point he's fighting Leukemia, Pneumonia, and DIC (the clotting bleeding situation). He developed microvascular clots in his toes and the majority of them started turning purple and blue. Within a few days he turned it around though. He's always been a fighter. He was transferred out of ICU and moved to the Progressive Care Unit where he is now. He's receiving multiple chemos, blood thinners, blood, platelets, and a boat load of pain meds daily. He no longer has a feeding tube but is losing weight at a steady pace due to the mouth sores from the chemo. He is working with Physical therapy at the hospital and is able to use a cane. Unfortunately, some of his toes continue to turn colors and are now black and have died. He now has an amputation procedure looming for at least two toes. He continues to have a good fighting spirit about all of it.

So far his hospital bill is around $6,000 that we are aware of but a lot of the bill is pending insurance so we won't have a grand total for some time. It will be quite a large expense. I can take FMLA to care for him but it will be unpaid and Lance will not be able to go back to work for 6 months to a year. It really depends on how his bone marrow test comes out next week and also what happens with surgery. He will need follow up Speech and Physical therapy after he comes home and nursing care full time. This is the bonus, I am a Registered Nurse so I will be caring for him. The expenses add up quickly and this event was very unforeseen. One of the first things we asked the doctor was should we have seen something and they told us this develops over 2-3 days so we wouldn't have known. We have to purchase equipment for the house so he will be able to be as independent as he can be. In this situation the medical bills will continue to add up for quite some time.

Those who know Lance know that he has such a good heart. He has a very good sense of humor and has a fighting spirit. This will not keep him down and he will keep on fighting.