Clark Family Needs Help with Cancer Funds

Hi. My name is Cindy. I'm the one whose picture is on the left there. That's my daughter, Kristina, in the middle, and my sweet husband there is David.

Life just threw us a curve we weren't expecting. On April 7, 2023, less than 2 months ago, I saw a urologist because I'd had a little bit of blood in my urine. He did a cystoscopy and found cancer. One week later a biopsy was done and it was discovered I have a very rare and aggressive form of cancer called "small cell carcinoma." Incurable.

After many, many tests, I was told on May 25th that I have maybe one to two months if we do nothing and possibly a year if we hit it as aggressively as possible.

In the interim, the pain has grown by leaps and bounds. I have really, really bad days and I have some not-too-bad days, and they said the chemotherapy will actually help with the pain, so I'm going for it. The cancer has already, that quickly, metastasized into my bones and lymph nodes, so it seems the best thing to do.

Yesterday I had my port put in, and this Tuesday I start my chemo treatments.

On another note, my husband and I have been taking care of our daughter pretty much ever since she got MRSA necrotizing pneumonia back in December of 2015. What a story of fear and then faith and then miracles that was! She wasn't supposed to live at all, and yet here she is seven years later, one lung missing, and yet still kicking! We saw so many miracles during her struggle. We are hoping for another for me!

But, you see, now the situation turns to David and me. Kristina is still in need of constant support, and it is a struggle. We've been her caregivers, managing everything for her, meeting all her needs such as making her meals, doing her cleaning, setting up and taking her to all of her appointments, of which there are many because her health has been up and down during all this time, and being her cheerleaders to continue to do what is necessary to get well. She will always need care.

Here's the punch line. My poor husband is now not just a caregiver to my daughter, but he is now OUR caregiver. Can you even imagine, as father and husband, having to take care of both? Being the "memory keeper"? All the appointment tracking, making, keeping, coordinating; all the housekeeping, meal making; all the grocery shopping; all with knowing that he is losing his wife of 38 years? I won't be able to help with making meals soon or encouraging her to eat, and trust me, he is not a cook! LOL!

Thank God for his brothers in Christ who are here for him spiritually and emotionally and reach out to help him when they can. And we have a wonderful group of church friends who are rotating meals on my chemo days and have already come and cleaned our apartment once. (Thank you, Lord, for surrounding us with such a great church family!) We also have an agency that can take Kristina to some of her appointments where information doesn't need to be exchanged, like days where it's just an injection or a blood draw that David has set up. And my blessed sister has volunteered to take me to some of my appointments when they conflict with the ones David is taking Kristina to. We have been blessed in the area of friends meeting us where we are emotionally, praying for us.

So maybe you'll say, "What help do you need, then?"

Well, we have had some expenses come up which we didn't expect. I've been the sole support of our household while David has been the housekeeper, caregiver, yard laboror - you name it, he does it! And now I've had to take early retirement, which we could handle, I think, if everything was normal. But it's not normal. We have had a lot of things come up that we weren't expecting.

One is getting/hiring a lawyer to create all our final forms needed, including a trust to protect our daughter. One is all the fuel and upkeep it will take to go to sometimes six or seven medical appointments per week, and some of those appointments are about 20 miles each way.

We have an old 2003 Dodge pickup and a 2015 22-foot trailer that we used for camping. The truck is our only vehicle, and it's a rear-wheel drive, so we were thinking of selling them to purchase a smaller used vehicle with better gas mileage and will get up the hills to Huntsman Cancer Hospital when it gets icy again, but where to find the time to put it up for sale and meet all the people who will come to see it around all these appointments?

Honestly, there are just all these expenses that come up that we haven't even thought about. I've had several friends tell me that I really need to create a GoFundMe, so here I am.

I'll tell you what I covet more than anything is your prayers! We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are praying for healing, but we don't know what's in His plan for us. We've already seen so many miracles, though, so who knows? But in the meantime, would you please consider giving us a helping hand? Thank you and may God bless your kindness!