- P
In the two weeks since Katie's cancer diagnosis, we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from friends in our many circles, both near and far. Several of you from out of town have asked us for specific ways they can help, and others nearby have asked if they could set up / manage a GoFundMe for us.
We ask that you share this only through private channels such as text or email. Please do not post on social media platforms.
In creating this, we want to be clear and transparent about our situation and our vision for how this money will be used.
First, and most importantly, we are not in acute financial need. We anticipate the possibility of needing to adjust our normal spending habits over the course of Katie's treatment, but this mainly involves cutting luxuries or deferring optional purchases, not going without necessities. If that changes, we will of course let people know.
Second, we see this primarily as a venue for people who are distant from us physically to be able to contribute to needs they would take upon themselves if they lived nearby. We know many of you would send a meal, take James out for a day at the park and an ice cream cone, drop a book off to Katie to read during chemo, babysit for an evening, and meet a thousand other needs it's impossible for us to imagine at the moment. Our vision for this fund would be as a stand-in for the things we know many of you would do if you were here.
Third, if you are local in Knoxville - you are of course welcome to participate here, but we are most grateful for your presence, your flexibility, and the moments you will reach out, drop by, and remind us that we are not alone. So many of you have offered to watch James, bring a meal, sit with us, take Katie to appointments, etc. We're starting a list! The process has been physically and emotionally exhausting for both of us, and we will need your help for the long haul.
Fourth, if you are a Federal employee, we anticipate Katie being approved for the voluntary leave transfer program soon and can provide details about how to fill out OPM Form 630A/B when we get them. If you have leave hours you can donate, that is truly our most important need at the moment. Katie will need to take off at least 2 days a week during her first round of chemotherapy, and likely several weeks following surgery. We have applied for FMLA, which will protect her job if we need to resort to leave without pay, but there are limits on the amount of protected time in a year. If you are able to donate leave or know someone who is, it is far more valuable to us right now than money.
Fifth, if you want to know exactly what your money is going to, and you don't have moral qualms about buying from Amazon, we are creating a wish list with items we anticipate needing. (Link to the wish list will be available later).
Finally, please do not feel any obligation to give, particularly if it strains your budget. We appreciate your love and support, prayers / positive thoughts, and notes of encouragement. We are going to be fine. Really.
What this *is not* for:
- Hospital or doctor-related expenses and medical bills. Katie and I are both fortunate to have exceptionally good health insurance from our employers along with ample savings. Medical costs are scary for many, maybe most families in this situation. Because of other chronic medical conditions, we anticipate and budget for significant healthcare related costs each year, and while this year's spending will be higher than expected we do not anticipate being unable to pay for Katie's medical treatment at this time.
- House remodels, classic cars, fancy shoes and bags, etc. We pledge to be good stewards of this money. We will donate anything left over after Katie's treatment to one or more organizations/non-profits we found to be particularly helpful along our journey.
What this *is* for:
- Meals at local restaurants that don't do DoorDash/UberEats/GrubHub when we feel like picking something up or not cooking on a non meal train night. We like to support local restaurants when we can, and we like to order from them directly when we can to help them avoid service charges from platforms. We also like to have things dropped off at our door, so we will still use platforms!
- (Hopefully) date nights, if and when Katie feels up to it. We hope to find moments where we can take time to celebrate the completion of another week, another round of chemo, another step closer to the finish line. Whether food or babysitting, we would plan to apply money given here to cover those costs.
- Random, petty expenses that arise when you're interacting with the medical system or enduring long-term treatment that aren't billable to insurance. At our drug store trip to prepare for Katie's first chemotherapy appointment, we needed compression socks, motion sickness bracelets, name brand Claritin, electrolyte supplements, peppermints, and a few other odds and ends. Again, these are things that we have the resources to buy on our own, but they are things we know many of you would be happy to pick up for us and drop off if you were in town.
- Special treats / needs for James. We anticipate this being a time where we will need to spend some extra time focusing on James. We expect that we may ask various people to, for example, spend an afternoon with him at the zoo or aquarium, and we want to make sure we cover the expenses for people who invest their time to help us.
- Therapy. We need some! We have a fantastic therapist who I'm sure would cut us a good deal (j/k, Anonymous!), we feel like spending time processing this together and separately will be critical to a good outcome. We also may reach out to a child specialist for James.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jeff Wischkaemper
Beneficiary