Stash TarkaMedical Expenses

For those of you who don’t know, my stepfather stash was diagnosed with stage four peritoneal epithelioid mesothelioma recently, which is terminal. He and my mother are the most selfless people that I know; they hate asking for help, and this is why I am asking on their behalf. They are faced with, not only challenges related to his health, but also faced with worrying about the “what ifs”; Paying for treatment to try and extend life, possible travel for clinical trials, a faulty septic, taxes, and final expenses. Mom hasn’t been able to work since his diagnosis and doesn’t know when she will return, so my brother has the store open 4 days a week which is enough revenue to keep the doors open because mom will need that income later. Stash and my mom have been through so much and now they have this. Their love story is one for the books, mom can’t see this world without him in it. She is only concerned for Stash and his only concern is my mom. No one should ever have to consider life without their loved ones, not to mention the potential financial concerns and trying to get as much time as possible on top of everything else.

A little Background for those wondering, this is a man who went to the doctors over 40 times in the past year, And for six months, he and my mom have been discussing their concerns about his rapid weight loss, and other symptoms to his doctors; concerns that have fallen on deaf ears. Concerns that were brought to his medical team, which contains two head doctors of their departments. For months, he and my mom have expressed their fear, and only one medical doctor decided to research it further. When they traveled this summer and got home from Georgia, my stepfather went to the hospital almost immediately upon arriving home. They told him that he was in diabetic ketoacidosis. Additionally, my stepfather said he had pain in his side and back which they contributed to a pulled muscle or muscle spasm, for which they gave him muscle relaxers. His pain persisted. He returned to the doctors and two different radiologists looked at his CT scans and informed him that he had a hernia. He went in for hernia surgery, and what they found was not a hernia. Instead, they found a tumor where the hernia had been reported, another tumor where the lymph node used to be along with hundreds more in his abdominal cavity, lining around his lungs and lymph nodes in his upper chest. It was reported that this type of cancer was treatable in early stages however, once it spreads to the lymph nodes, there is only palliative care. So, although they had been expressing their concerns for six months, because these concerns were not taken seriously, his cancer is now stage four. The doctors have given a timeline but mom says there’s no expiration date on his body so I am not going to share that information, let’s just say it’s not long enough. He has started immunotherapy treatment, and we should know more soon if the treatment is shrinking the tumors if not they will try chemotherapy. Please consider contributing to this go fund me To Alleviate some of the financial burden that they are facing. If you are not in a place that you are able To Contribute, please share so that others may if they are able.