Hello, my name is Ruthie and I am reaching out to help a friend in need. Her name is Audrey Plourde and she is too proud to ask for help, so I will. Audrey's husband Randy was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma four and half years ago. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that develops in plasma cells in the bone marrow. The plasma cells are transformed into cancerous cells and grow out of control. That's the short story about his cancer.

Randy and Audrey will celebrate 37 years of marriage in December. They have two children and two grandchildren. Randy has had to stop working due to his cancer and has been in and out of the hospital many, many times. Audrey, who is always by his side has used up all of her vacation time and any savings they had to help with his treatments. Starting in late October/early November they will start a cancer treatment at OHSU that will require they live near OHSU for one month. This as you can imagine will be very expensive. They will need to stay at a hotel near the hospital for his daily treatments. This will also mean Audrey will be out of work and it will be unpaid. She has exhausted her vacation/sick time and the Oregon Paid leave. Audrey was honest with me that this won't cure the cancer but it will give Randy the best chance at being in remission for a year to two years with no treatment. Think of someone you have lost and how any extra time you could have with them would be.

There is a great country song out right now called "It won't be Long" by George Birge. Part of the song goes like this "Buy a drink, steal the kiss, make the trip, take the risk. Love hard as you can and just hold on, Cause life might be a lot of things but it won't be long." I personally, have had a lot of loss in my life over the last few years and I know that if I could have additional time with my loved ones who passed, I would do anything.

With this said, I am writing asking you to please help me, help my friend Audrey and her family. Let's help Randy with his best chance at getting a few more years with the love of his life, his children and grandchildren. With all of the things Audrey has to worry about during this challenging, stressful and emotional time in her life money should not be one of them. This is why I am asking everyone to help me raise $8000 to help cover lodging, food and lost wages during his upcoming treatment. No donation is too small, everything will help. Thank you for taking time to read this. Thanks in advance for any donations. Donations can be made anonymous. Thanks again!