Support Elliot's Battle Against Cancer

Hello! I (Sylvia Koss) started this fund after much deliberation. Actually, months and months of it. In July, our lives changed forever when my husband (Elliot) was diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer. Since then, he has fought tirelessly to kick this disease to the curb.

We started with chemo, which you assume comes with the side effect of vomiting because that’s what we usually hear. The truth is, chemo is painful. After the treatment, he gets an infusion to stimulate bone marrow growth. That infusion causes leg pain and neuropathy. Elliot has always been an artist. Since chemo began, he has lost feeling in his hands and feet. Turns out that’s also fairly normal. Who knew? But for an artist, that’s losing your life. We hope in time it will come back, but it’s uncertain to what degree.

Another thing Elliot developed was a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung). We were to have a scan that upcoming Monday to determine next steps, but on Saturday, he woke up coughing blood. We immediately went to the ER, and on the walk inside, he went into SVT (Supraventricular tachycardia). His heart rate was 251. We were rushed back where they prepared to shock his heart back into rhythm. They were able to get him stabilized, but now we were faced with a new issue. If his heart did that again, we risked dislodging the blood clot.

We were admitted, and heart surgery was scheduled. They went in and repaired an electrical issue within the heart (WPW - Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome). Finally, we got him home and through his last chemo treatment. Next up is surgery and radiation.

Unfortunately, due to all of this, Elliot hasn’t been able to work. We applied for disability, but they’ve told us it can take up to a year to get approved. Here we are, 4 months later, and we’re still filling out paperwork to prove he’s actually unable to work.

We had supplemental insurance through the company with the squawking duck. You know the one. Well, the timeframe between enrolling and when we found out he had cancer wasn’t long enough, so they canceled our policy.

We’ve hit a rough patch, and the hospital wants its money. We applied for financial assistance, but they turned us down. So here I am asking for help. Something I don’t really know how to do, but I’m learning.

I know it’s the holiday season, and I know money is tight for everyone, so please only give if you can. Thank you for reading this long story of our life currently. We know it will get better. Just taking things one day at a time.