My husband, John Lingerfelt, has been ill for almost three months. It all began one May Sunday afternoon when John said his upper right chest was hurting and he thought he pulled a muscle. It got progressively worse until he asked me to take him to the emergency room that night. 

Once John said 'chest pain' the doctors began treating him for a heart attack. The EKG showed his heart was fine but they gave him a nitro patch and sent us home. They said if it's not better to call his PCP. The ER docs didn't investigate the cause of the pain.

Tuesday he went to see his primary doctor who ordered an x-ray. John was also diagnosed with low hemoglobin indicating internal bleeding. Friday he had another diagnosis - pneumonia. He had no difficulty breathing nor any cough. His pain continued to increase until he couldn't stand to be touched on that side of his chest, back, or arm. 

Ice packs, heating pads, and pain meds weren't helping. John spent that week on the couch, sleeping sitting up when the pain would allow him to sleep. He didn't eat and I could barely get him to drink Gatorade. He was miserable and it hurt me to watch my strong husband become so weak.

After 9 days and 3 visits to the ER, John was finally admitted to the hospital with a blood clot in the upper right arm, kidney failure, internal bleeding, pneumonia, and chest infection. He was in the hospital for 8 days before he stabilized enough to come home. 

He has a PICC line in his left arm and has to give himself IV antibiotics for the chest infection (which is now an abscess in the chest) and clear it with saline and Heparin. He's on blood thinners, too.

John was scheduled for a colonoscopy on July 27 to find out where the internal bleeding is coming from. That's when the colon cancer was discovered. It's an adenocarcinoma that grows in/on mucus-producing organs. A CT scan that week showed the other organs look clear and the chest abscess is 1-2 cm.

He was already out of work on FMLA since the beginning of June. His employer let him know that after 12 weeks he may be out of his position. That gives him more to worry about.

Treatment

Surgery to remove the tumor will also remove a large portion of his colon and lymph nodes on the right side. Chemo is a possibility but we won't know until after the surgery. He won't be able to lift anything over 10 lbs for a few weeks.

He's on blood thinners until the blood clot dissolves.

He may need additional surgery to clear up the chest infection which is in the clavicle bone and surrounding tissue. 

Why am I asking for support?

John's short-term disability is a blessing but isn't enough to cover his expenses. The medical bills are mounting and it's causing John to worry about money when he should be focusing on healing. His insurance plan runs from June-May each year. When he first became ill we had to pay the deductible and out of pocket for the fiscal year 2019 and a month later we had to pay the same for the fiscal year 2020.

Bills are coming in almost daily, either doctor or those credit card bills for co-pays.  We need to pay these on time if possible to avoid late fees and interest fees.  Your donation today will help make that possible.

We were almost debt-free when this happened. We've had to put new expenses on credit cards. I was out of work for 4 weeks on short-term disability for my own surgery. We had to meet my insurance demands, too.

Knowing he may be losing his position at work - which he loves- is bothering both of us. I decided to reach out to ask for your help. I'm hoping to raise enough to cover upcoming medical expenses and make up the loss of income John is already experiencing (short-term disability only covers 70% of his income). 

More about John

John works for a private school, doing maintenance and he loves it. The staff, parents, and kids are great. The kids at that school make him the cutest and sweetest cards, notes, and pictures all year, he is very much loved. 

He never had his own kids other than his dogs. He loves his fur-kids and creates interesting life stories for them with jobs, funny conversations they have and he never tires of petting them.

He's an amazing husband. John has inspired me in so many ways with his humor, inner strength, loyalty, integrity, and love. He loves his family. We cook and package frozen meals for his dad to make sure his dad eats well.