PLEASE help Laurie & Dale keep their HOME
Donation protected
My name is Joe and I am asking for help for my cousin Laurie and her husband Dale.
Laurie & Dale are two of the kindest people I’ve ever met or could imagine meeting. They were high school sweethearts and married early on, when they were both in their early 20s. Laurie became a Spanish teacher and worked in that capacity until her multiple chronic illnesses forced her to stop working. Dale, the best hugger in the world, became a salesman. He spent most of his professional life as a leasing executive for retail properties. Dale and Laurie lived a middle-class life, well within their means despite Laurie dealing with multiple chronic illnesses and allergy/autoimmune sensitivities for many years. They were fiscally conservative, with emergency savings, retirement savings, a modest home, and no debt other than their mortgage. Everything was fine until catastrophic illness struck them not once, but twice. As is the case for many families, catastrophic illness brought catastrophic financial consequences as well.
Laurie's and Dale's financial lives began to unravel in 2015, when Laurie was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell cancer in her left sinuses. This life changing diagnosis would require drastic, life-altering surgery to save her life. I drove from my home in Chicago to Indianapolis for the surgery and was in the hospital with Laurie and Dale that first awful week. The gifted surgeons at Indiana University Hospital removed not only Laurie's tumor, but also her left eye, the orbital bone behind her eye, her upper left palate, and several of her teeth. A graft was taken from the muscle in her thigh to rebuild the left side of her face. For my dear cousin who I had long-ago nicknamed "Gorgeous," this surgical obliteration of her face was crushing, and yet, it was the least of her problems as her prognosis was very much uncertain. I held her hand and cried with her more times than I could count that first week. Following her surgery, Laurie endured 30 radiation treatments between May and July 2015.
In March 2016, Dale also suffered a life-changing, catastrophic health event. He went to the St. Vincent’s Hospital emergency room with a deep muscular pain in his back and was diagnosed with an ascending aortic dissection, which is where your aorta begins to tear and ultimately ruptures. Once it ruptures, there is no chance of survival. Dale was rushed into emergency surgery, and I once again drove to Indianapolis to be with Laurie while she waited to learn if Dale would live or die. Fortunately, the surgery saved Dale's life. The only reason he is alive today is because he made it to the emergency room before his aorta completely ruptured.
Since her original cancer surgery in 2015, Laurie has endured multiple additional surgeries, procedures, and treatments, some of them part of planned post-operative reconstructive protocol, and others resulting from various unanticipated complications. Since his emergency surgery in 2016, Dale was also diagnosed with another heart condition (coronary ectasia), and three times every week he goes to cardiac rehab where the rehab therapists introduce him to new patients as a source of inspiration given that his survival of an aortic dissection is nothing less than a miracle and that he has maintained his characteristic warmth and strength despite all of his and Laurie's challenges. Blessedly, Dale is now sufficiently fit to seek work and is diligently doing so. The pandemic has of course made that a bit more difficult.
As you may imagine, life-threatening health events and subsequent unemployment had a devastating impact on Laurie's and Dale's financial well-being. They had already depleted almost all of their savings and incurred credit card debt, (for the first time in their lives), to make ends meet, when, just after the first of the year, my cousins, living in their little townhouse off the last of their savings and selling off their personal possessions to stay afloat, fell victim to cyber theft, and the last of their savings was literally stolen from them. They are now in serious financial jeopardy, at risk of losing their home and having to move away from their medical providers that have been providing critical care for both of them for years now.
Laurie and Dale are not the kind of people who would ever ask for help. They’re the ones who are always there to help others. Because of their reluctance to turn love/friendships/family relationships transactional, it has taken me several weeks and long conversations about acceptance of help before they finally agreed to let me set up this GoFundMe for them and reach out to family and friends for help.
What do Laurie and Dale need right now? They’d like not to have to move from their comfortable and safe home of 25 years, (their sanctuary), away from their doctors, and then into a rental. Since Laurie’s illness modifications have been made to their home to facilitate her care and well-being. Replicating these changes in an apartment/ rental situation could become complicated or may not be possible to achieve. Also, complicating their situation are the current market rental rates which exceed Laurie and Dale’s current mortgage obligation, placing them between a rock and a hard place.
They’d also like to be able to afford certain treatments that are not covered by Medicaid, e.g., Laurie’s pain treatments for one of her chronic conditions and significant upcoming dental expenses to remedy tooth loss and other continued dental problems caused by the 30 radiation treatments she received. And they’d like to buy some time to get back on their feet while Dale continues his desperate search to find another job. The fundraising goal I have set would allow Laurie and Dale, to remain in their home, and pay for their necessary medical and dental expenses for the next 6-9 months.
If you are fortunate enough to be in a position to help Laurie and Dale, I would be so grateful if you would please do so, and of course PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK with anyone you might think may be interested in helping Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Laurie & Dale are two of the kindest people I’ve ever met or could imagine meeting. They were high school sweethearts and married early on, when they were both in their early 20s. Laurie became a Spanish teacher and worked in that capacity until her multiple chronic illnesses forced her to stop working. Dale, the best hugger in the world, became a salesman. He spent most of his professional life as a leasing executive for retail properties. Dale and Laurie lived a middle-class life, well within their means despite Laurie dealing with multiple chronic illnesses and allergy/autoimmune sensitivities for many years. They were fiscally conservative, with emergency savings, retirement savings, a modest home, and no debt other than their mortgage. Everything was fine until catastrophic illness struck them not once, but twice. As is the case for many families, catastrophic illness brought catastrophic financial consequences as well.
Laurie's and Dale's financial lives began to unravel in 2015, when Laurie was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell cancer in her left sinuses. This life changing diagnosis would require drastic, life-altering surgery to save her life. I drove from my home in Chicago to Indianapolis for the surgery and was in the hospital with Laurie and Dale that first awful week. The gifted surgeons at Indiana University Hospital removed not only Laurie's tumor, but also her left eye, the orbital bone behind her eye, her upper left palate, and several of her teeth. A graft was taken from the muscle in her thigh to rebuild the left side of her face. For my dear cousin who I had long-ago nicknamed "Gorgeous," this surgical obliteration of her face was crushing, and yet, it was the least of her problems as her prognosis was very much uncertain. I held her hand and cried with her more times than I could count that first week. Following her surgery, Laurie endured 30 radiation treatments between May and July 2015.
In March 2016, Dale also suffered a life-changing, catastrophic health event. He went to the St. Vincent’s Hospital emergency room with a deep muscular pain in his back and was diagnosed with an ascending aortic dissection, which is where your aorta begins to tear and ultimately ruptures. Once it ruptures, there is no chance of survival. Dale was rushed into emergency surgery, and I once again drove to Indianapolis to be with Laurie while she waited to learn if Dale would live or die. Fortunately, the surgery saved Dale's life. The only reason he is alive today is because he made it to the emergency room before his aorta completely ruptured.
Since her original cancer surgery in 2015, Laurie has endured multiple additional surgeries, procedures, and treatments, some of them part of planned post-operative reconstructive protocol, and others resulting from various unanticipated complications. Since his emergency surgery in 2016, Dale was also diagnosed with another heart condition (coronary ectasia), and three times every week he goes to cardiac rehab where the rehab therapists introduce him to new patients as a source of inspiration given that his survival of an aortic dissection is nothing less than a miracle and that he has maintained his characteristic warmth and strength despite all of his and Laurie's challenges. Blessedly, Dale is now sufficiently fit to seek work and is diligently doing so. The pandemic has of course made that a bit more difficult.
As you may imagine, life-threatening health events and subsequent unemployment had a devastating impact on Laurie's and Dale's financial well-being. They had already depleted almost all of their savings and incurred credit card debt, (for the first time in their lives), to make ends meet, when, just after the first of the year, my cousins, living in their little townhouse off the last of their savings and selling off their personal possessions to stay afloat, fell victim to cyber theft, and the last of their savings was literally stolen from them. They are now in serious financial jeopardy, at risk of losing their home and having to move away from their medical providers that have been providing critical care for both of them for years now.
Laurie and Dale are not the kind of people who would ever ask for help. They’re the ones who are always there to help others. Because of their reluctance to turn love/friendships/family relationships transactional, it has taken me several weeks and long conversations about acceptance of help before they finally agreed to let me set up this GoFundMe for them and reach out to family and friends for help.
What do Laurie and Dale need right now? They’d like not to have to move from their comfortable and safe home of 25 years, (their sanctuary), away from their doctors, and then into a rental. Since Laurie’s illness modifications have been made to their home to facilitate her care and well-being. Replicating these changes in an apartment/ rental situation could become complicated or may not be possible to achieve. Also, complicating their situation are the current market rental rates which exceed Laurie and Dale’s current mortgage obligation, placing them between a rock and a hard place.
They’d also like to be able to afford certain treatments that are not covered by Medicaid, e.g., Laurie’s pain treatments for one of her chronic conditions and significant upcoming dental expenses to remedy tooth loss and other continued dental problems caused by the 30 radiation treatments she received. And they’d like to buy some time to get back on their feet while Dale continues his desperate search to find another job. The fundraising goal I have set would allow Laurie and Dale, to remain in their home, and pay for their necessary medical and dental expenses for the next 6-9 months.
If you are fortunate enough to be in a position to help Laurie and Dale, I would be so grateful if you would please do so, and of course PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK with anyone you might think may be interested in helping Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Organizer and beneficiary
Joe Rosenfeld
Organizer
Indianapolis, IN
Dale Kline
Beneficiary