Hi, my name is Bridgett. I am 56 years old. My husband of 31 years, recently passed away. It was December 18, 2024 at 7:15 am. Just 6 months before this happened, I would have never believed I would be where I am now. My husband (my wonderful husband) painted houses and other buildings for a living. We were by no means wealthy. Mostly paycheck to paycheck just trying to make ends meet. But he always seemed healthy for the most part. He did have high blood pressure and kidney stones from time to time. But to me, he was like Spiderman. Climbing tall ladders and all over buildings. I wouldn't climb anything higher than a 6 foot ladder. We were together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We loved being together. We really loved each other. One day, we were working and he started having some dizziness and a pain in his side. Now most of the time, he would just walk it off. But it was different this time. I drove him to the emergency room. They started testing him. He has a mass on his adrenal gland. Then they said he had some lesions on his brain. At that point they said it could be a lot of different things. After a few more test, it came back that he had skin cancer that had metastasized to his lymph nodes, his adrenal gland, and his brain. It is so hard to write this. I just cry all the time. To start with, we didn't have any insurance. So that was a problem. I jumped throw hoops to get that started. We had to destroy our whole life so he could have treatment to save his beautiful life. We were told it would probably take 2 years for him to go into remission. Turns out, it wasn't true for us. I believe it was early September when we first got his diagnosis. Like I said he was gone before Christmas. He did get 3 radiation treatments. 1 immunotherapy treatment. Only a few days after the immunotherapy, he had an emergency and had to be put on life support. I remember the days with him being so precious. He came off of life support after a couple of days. He was able to talk a little. He kept telling me how much he loved me and that I loved him. We love each other. Soon they would come in and tell us that there was nothing more that they could do. It was like the world cracked open. I wanted to die in that moment. How? How could this happen to such a wonder person? I had to take him home on hospice. A hospital bed in our living room. I will spare some details here. Because it was horrible to watch him deteriorate. He was still able to speak, but sometimes he couldn't get the right word out. But he would tell me he loved me. I'm so thankful for that. Because we really loved each other. We always did. We had a beautiful life together. When he was passing, I said so many things to him. I told him, what an honor it was to be his wife. That I would always belong to him. I talked about our children (Cameron and Billy Jr.) and all the rest of our family and friends. I continued to talk to him for 15 minutes after he passed, because I heard that sometimes people can hear you up to that amount to time. My last words to him, "I love you, you love me, we love each other. Then I prayed over him. I know I will never be the same without him. He was my everything.

So, this event in our lives has changed everything. I have been left destitute. I have nothing to live on. I was able to get to county I live in, to pay for his cremation. I have mostly been a housewife during our marriage. I did work with him on his jobs when he needed help. We didn't have any life insurance, nor do we own anything of value. We have two vehicles. Both are well over 20 years old with lots of problems. I don't know what to do with my life. I am completely on my own. My children have their lives to live. So they can't help me much. I have to start over. I don't know what that entails. I don't have enough skills to support myself. I would like to try to go back to school or maybe start a business. I don't know what kind. I've also thought of living in an RV. I'm not sure if I think it makes sense. Just some ideas. But for now, I have no money to even pay my basic bills. That's what I need in the immediate. Help just to survive until I can figure out my life. I'm definitely open to suggestions. I'm terrified of being alone. Its like I'm new here. With nothing. I appreciate any and all support. I am not a frivolous person. I will make every single donation count. To help me start a new life. I'm alone and that is very scary. Thank you in advance. Thank you for reading my story. Thank you for being apart of this new journey and to where ever it leads. One last thing, because I know I am asking for a lot, please pray for my husband. I would love a prayer too. Thank You, Bridgett Waldrop