Katie got dealt a bad hand. No way around it. Back in June, she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. This week, she starts treatment.

For Katie, the last two months have been an emotional roller coaster—fear of not knowing the outcome, worrying about how she will financially get through this. Although we spend a lot of time together, Katie lives alone with her cat Gus. Many of the bills she acquires are solely her responsibility. I've helped as much as I can, but with the cost of rent, electricity, gas, daily/monthly bills and now the medical bills, it’s hard to keep our heads above water. As many of you know Katie is a tattooer, which means no employer benefits and a lot of paying out of pocket. Health insurance is outrageous and deductibles are high. Vacation pay and time paid off are nonexistent.

We'll get through this! Of course we will. Katie is a tough, determined person. But "this" is about four months of chemotherapy, then surgery, then radiation treatment. Multiple $1,000-plus medical bills have already come in and we've barely started. It is very expensive to be sick in this country!

The $10,000 goal is, unfortunately, reasonable. Could well be too small. *UPDATE: we've raised the goal to $30,000. THANK YOU to everyone who donated so much so quickly.*

We'd like to be past this whole ordeal come Christmas time with as little medical debt as possible. Any little thing helps!

Thank you,

Bill