Wannie and Barbara Fund
Donation protected
My mother, Barbara Rexilius, just about died from treatment for fallopian cancer some four years ago. The chemotherapy drugs had ravaged her body. She called me on Christmas Day 2012 to say goodbye. It was not to be. Somehow she pulled through and, many painful surgeries later, survived.
I got a call from my mother a week ago. This wasn't just any call. She had seen the doctors earlier in the week to do some scans after blood work showed positive for cancer. There is a lot of false positives for the blood test that she had taken so we weren't jumping to conclusions.
However, the news my mother gave me was not good. Her cancer had returned. The scans showed that it was all over. In her lungs, her liver and her spleen. The doctors did not believe that treatment for the disease would help her. It would only worsen her time left. She was diagnosed as terminal.
It's news that one does not want to hear from their mother. So, here I am. Having "that talk" with my mother. She's getting her affairs in order while she can. Today, she has arranged to have a housekeeper help out with the cleaning that she no longer has the ability to do. Tomorrow, it's to arrange hospice care.
I have been dealing with my own wife's (LaWann Rexilius) fight with Stage IV cancer (malignant struma ovarii) for the last 8 years. The cost of treatment has made a mess of our finances. The cancer is in her liver, stomach and pelvic area. Upon her initial diagnosis, Wannie was treated with high dose radioactive iodine therapy. She had been stable for four years.
In 2015, the cancer had spread to her lungs. She was no longer stable. My wife is currently on an experimental targeted chemotheraphy for her cancer. The cost is $13,000 a month for the drugs. Wannie has been on Lenvima since January 2016.
Wannie is bedridden on average 4+ hours a day. When we were down in Houston at M.D. Anderson in December I was expecting bad news. The assistant was the first to relay the news. They couldn't detect the tumors in her lungs any longer. Yay! The tumors in her liver and stomach had also shrunken some as well.
Wannie may never rid herself of this cancer. It's an awful monster that drains her of energy and us of joy. We pray each day for a miracle and give thanks to God and the doctors that work so hard in their fight against this disease.
What do we need the funds for? Well, first off, we'd like to see my mother before she dies. So, that would be needed ASAP. We haven't seen her since she visited my wife upon learning of my Wannie's diagnosis in 2009.
My wife has had help from charities for some of the medications. But it does not cover it all. Wannie takes all sorts of medications for pain, nausea, hypothyroidism and diabetes. There's the very expensive chemotherapy. Then there's the drugs to counter all the side effects of the chemo (foot sores, mouth sores, nausea, vomiting, blood pressure).
There are a lot of bills for hospital stays, doctor visits, and testing screens (CT scans, MRI scans, biopsies, etc.). We visit six doctors on a regular basis. There are also insurance premiums, deductables and co-pays which we must come up with even though my wife can no longer work. We have tranportation and lodging costs when we go out of town for evaluation and testing. There is credit card debt associated with all of these costs.
We are drowning in debt. We are having trouble affording the medications she needs just to get by. I would say there is more than 30K in unpaid hospital debt. There's also on average of $1k needed monthly for insurance and deductables for doctor's visits and prescriptions.
Anyone that knows Wannie knows how kind she has been to others. We've been long members of First United Methodist Church in Arlington, Texas. For years she was a Stephen Minister. She would visit shut ins that were too frail or sick to attend church services. She did this until she herself could no longer get out and about. Today, she has a Stephen Minister visit her on a regular basis .
If you can help in any way it would be greatly appreciated. Funds will be used just as was described. Thank you and God bless!
I got a call from my mother a week ago. This wasn't just any call. She had seen the doctors earlier in the week to do some scans after blood work showed positive for cancer. There is a lot of false positives for the blood test that she had taken so we weren't jumping to conclusions.
However, the news my mother gave me was not good. Her cancer had returned. The scans showed that it was all over. In her lungs, her liver and her spleen. The doctors did not believe that treatment for the disease would help her. It would only worsen her time left. She was diagnosed as terminal.
It's news that one does not want to hear from their mother. So, here I am. Having "that talk" with my mother. She's getting her affairs in order while she can. Today, she has arranged to have a housekeeper help out with the cleaning that she no longer has the ability to do. Tomorrow, it's to arrange hospice care.
I have been dealing with my own wife's (LaWann Rexilius) fight with Stage IV cancer (malignant struma ovarii) for the last 8 years. The cost of treatment has made a mess of our finances. The cancer is in her liver, stomach and pelvic area. Upon her initial diagnosis, Wannie was treated with high dose radioactive iodine therapy. She had been stable for four years.
In 2015, the cancer had spread to her lungs. She was no longer stable. My wife is currently on an experimental targeted chemotheraphy for her cancer. The cost is $13,000 a month for the drugs. Wannie has been on Lenvima since January 2016.
Wannie is bedridden on average 4+ hours a day. When we were down in Houston at M.D. Anderson in December I was expecting bad news. The assistant was the first to relay the news. They couldn't detect the tumors in her lungs any longer. Yay! The tumors in her liver and stomach had also shrunken some as well.
Wannie may never rid herself of this cancer. It's an awful monster that drains her of energy and us of joy. We pray each day for a miracle and give thanks to God and the doctors that work so hard in their fight against this disease.
What do we need the funds for? Well, first off, we'd like to see my mother before she dies. So, that would be needed ASAP. We haven't seen her since she visited my wife upon learning of my Wannie's diagnosis in 2009.
My wife has had help from charities for some of the medications. But it does not cover it all. Wannie takes all sorts of medications for pain, nausea, hypothyroidism and diabetes. There's the very expensive chemotherapy. Then there's the drugs to counter all the side effects of the chemo (foot sores, mouth sores, nausea, vomiting, blood pressure).
There are a lot of bills for hospital stays, doctor visits, and testing screens (CT scans, MRI scans, biopsies, etc.). We visit six doctors on a regular basis. There are also insurance premiums, deductables and co-pays which we must come up with even though my wife can no longer work. We have tranportation and lodging costs when we go out of town for evaluation and testing. There is credit card debt associated with all of these costs.
We are drowning in debt. We are having trouble affording the medications she needs just to get by. I would say there is more than 30K in unpaid hospital debt. There's also on average of $1k needed monthly for insurance and deductables for doctor's visits and prescriptions.
Anyone that knows Wannie knows how kind she has been to others. We've been long members of First United Methodist Church in Arlington, Texas. For years she was a Stephen Minister. She would visit shut ins that were too frail or sick to attend church services. She did this until she herself could no longer get out and about. Today, she has a Stephen Minister visit her on a regular basis .
If you can help in any way it would be greatly appreciated. Funds will be used just as was described. Thank you and God bless!
Organizer
Marcus Rexilius
Organizer
Arlington, TX
