Support Tom and Caroline as They Fight Cancer

Hi everyone! My name is Campbell Wouters, and I am one of Tom's sisters. We have created this GoFundMe in the hopes that we can help relieve some of the financial burden of the medical expenses that Tom and Caroline will incur over the next few months.

A note from Tom and Caroline on their journey thus far:

"On April 8th, Caroline was diagnosed with Stage-2 DLBCL Lymphoma.

For a little backstory: Caroline had not felt well over the past six months and in mid-February began to feel even worse. Her “constellation of symptoms,” as one doctor put it, made it difficult to pinpoint what exactly might be going on. On March 22nd she took a downturn, and on March 24th she spiked a fever. This fever ended up persisting on-and-off for sixteen days. We thought it might have been an autoimmune issue due to the joint pain, difficulty walking, fatigue, and extreme night sweats. She went to her PCP on April 1st, blood work was completed, and signs pointed to body inflammation. She was referred to a rheumatologist for a consultation… the first available appointment was August 2025 (sheesh).

On the tenth day of her fever she began having abdominal pain, which quickly worsened, as did her fevers. If you know Caroline, she is not one to go to the ER for just anything, but on April 4th, we believe the Lord himself led her there. Her fevers up to that point had been primarily at night, so it would have been abnormal to have had one mid-day.

As she was lying in pain last Friday, she prayed to the Lord, “If I have a fever right now, I will go to ER, no questions asked.” She took her temperature: 100.6. She called her sister-in-law (my sister, Melissa) and they went to the ER.

CT scans of her abdomen were ordered immediately due to the pain. The scans revealed large lymph nodes in her abdomen as well as an “angry” pancreas. After the ER doctor sent her scan to oncology and hematology friends, it was clear a further work-up was needed to rule out lymphoma.

Caroline was admitted to St. Thomas West on April 4th due to pancreatitis of unknown origins. Knowing what we know now, the going theory is that the lymphoma is causing the pancreas to be angry. Caroline had every blood test under the sun drawn to rule out infectious disease, autoimmune issues, and just about anything else.

As test results trickled in, the doctors began to circle lymphoma as the cause. She had bone marrow and lymph biopsies on April 7th, and tests were fast-tracked. On Tuesday, April 8th, it was confirmed: Stage-2 Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Because DLBCL is an aggressive cancer, it was necessary to start chemotherapy as quickly as possible. Her first treatment was conducted late into the night on April 9th and was completed just before sunrise on April 10th.

As you can imagine, so much has been going through our heads as we got all this information so quickly: no chance to harvest eggs for the potential of having kids, trying to find a "cold cap" in less than 24 hours to see if we could prevent hair loss, and digesting the fact that the next 18 weeks of our lives would look so different than we had planned, among many other things. To be quite honest, we're exhausted. But we are hopeful.

We hope because one thing has been clear: we felt (and continue to feel) the Lord’s presence palpably through this ordeal. His hand guided Caroline to the ER when he did so the doctors could catch this issue quickly. He gave us friends and family who have shown up beyond what we could have asked, flying across the country to come and see Caroline. He has put her in the care of amazing nurses and doctors who will bring her safely to healing. Already he has been so kind to us in his provision, and we will continue to pray for his wisdom, for his peace when fear arises, and for his presence, drawing us both back to himself over and over again.

We have confidence the Lord will heal Caroline to the fullest extent."

We are all so grateful for all your prayers and love and are humbled by the friends and family who have reached out to help. There will be other opportunities on this front, but for now, if you're willing and able, we would be grateful if you would consider contributing to their GoFundMe.

With love,

Campbell Wouters