Give Karen the gift of "home"

As many of you know, our dear friend Karen Schmitt is battling an aggressive form of Multiple Myeloma. Karen has bravely battled through many rounds of chemotherapy and endured a stem cell transplant last fall. Unfortunately, her remission was short-lived, and her cancer returned this past February. With few options left, she has chosen to do a second transplant (using donor cells), hoping to achieve a longer remission. Her goal is to buy more time until more effective treatments are available (immunotherapy/new chemo drugs). Karen is set to start the transplant process next week. This past week, Karen and Philip were informed that Philip’s firm is changing insurance providers, and the new insurance plan will go into effect on July 1st. What does this mean? Due to the changes in coverage, the Schmitt family will now have to pay many unexpected costs that will no longer be covered under their new plan. One of these costs is their Seattle housing that is required in order to go through the transplant process. Because of the requirement of being within 30 minutes from the hospital, Karen and Philip will need to relocate to a Seattle apartment for 100 days. Although the family has been able to sustain their very significant medical bills over the past year, these unexpected costs will be extremely challenging for them. Please help us alleviate the unrelenting financial burden that cancer can place on a family. It is our hope that we can raise the funds necessary to pay for Karen’s housing and allow her to proceed as planned with her transplant in the coming days, as well as assist with her post-transplant medical care. Let’s help her concentrate on getting well and returning home to her three kids with new hope for an extended time with those she loves most.