Hello, my name is Misty Lovejoy, and this is my husband Michael. We have been married for 16 years and have three children. We were hit with some pretty hard news about five months ago. Michael was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer with liver metastasis. And it all came out of the blue. He has always been healthy and received good reports from doctors at checkups until one day his stomach started bothering him, and he thought it was a hernia. It wasn’t. We have been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for the last four months, and it doesn’t seem that we are gaining any ground. Medical bills are starting to pile up. We have three children, one of whom will be going to college soon. I do work to keep our insurance for his treatment, but I am not able to work at the capacity I had before, so our finances are really tight.

And as with all great tragedies, there are multiple other issues that have arisen during these stressful times. Our air conditioners broke, and we had to spend thousands to get them replaced (I had to take out a loan). The washer and dryer are on the fritz. We replaced the dryer but not the washer yet. We had a leak in our master bathroom that led to the shower having to be redone, and we still have to fix the flooring in the closet from the water damage. Just one thing after another. I’ve been doing my best to get the basics down like mowing and weed eating, but we have a long way to go. At some point, we may have to get modifications made for my husband to make it in and out of the house.

He will probably be opposed to me reaching out for help, but he is the person everyone asks for help from when there is a need, and he always will put down whatever he is doing to help others. Even with a fifty-pound weight loss, he will still try to help the neighbors do car repairs or move things. He’s your man! But now we are the ones needing to ask for help. We understand that not everyone is in a position to give money to strangers, especially in this economy, but if we could ask for anyone seeing this to share it. We would also love to have your prayers and positivity for our situation. We know that there is not a cure for Michael’s illness, but we would like to give him every opportunity to be here as long as possible for his family.

Thank you so much, and God bless you.