Marla Steele Voice of the Animals

Please help me save my husband, my mother and myself.

Things have been crazy the last two years and I have come to the point where I need to send my “superwoman cape” on a long vacation and ask for help. This is very hard for me.

 Two years ago my husband, a beloved middle school teacher, was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to the bones. I took several months off without pay to be his full time caretaker throughout many surgeries, treatments, complications, spontaneous emergency room visits and many sleepless nights.

Then last fall my sister died unexpectedly. She collapsed in the shower. She was my rock and kept telling me if something happened to my husband that I could stay with her and bring my animals too.  But instead I flew back to her farm to help my brother –in-law with her animals and process the shock that we were all experiencing. With the holidays quickly approaching we decided to postpone her memorial.

At the same time our “healing cat” was diagnosed with bone and lung cancer (they do mirror us!) He needed an amputation but my husband kept ending up in the hospital so often the best I could do at the time was manage my cat’s pain for four months until my husband was stable long enough that we could do the surgery and treatments for our cat.

The holidays came and my husband’s cancer became active again. At the same time the grief took its toll on my mom and she started to get ill. I was forced to rehome our dog. I also got the news of a longtime family friend passing of lung cancer.

In March I was the only family member able to travel back for my sister’s memorial. That was a lot of energy to process. Just when I thought I was on the verge of collapsing I had to make an emergency stop in Arizona. My mom’s health was deteriorating. By the time I arrived her nose, lips and fingers were purple. She too had lung disease with congestive heart failure.

I ended up spending six months torn between my mother in Arizona and my husband in California, both with life threatening conditions. I flew back and forth several times on a moment’s notice to address their emergencies. I even joked they were having a contest to see who could end up in the hospital more often. In the midst of all this I lost my cat and had to head to the airport four hours after saying goodbye and leaving my husband alone in his grief so I could get mom back to the hospital in time.

The caretaker stress has finally caught up with me. My heart has been working overtime and I am in a high risk category right now. I need rest and replenishment but life has not let up yet.

 I am still managing my mother’s day-to-day care from afar. I have also just been told by conventional doctors that there are no more treatment options for my husband and we should explore all alternatives, which of course you have to pay for out of pocket. At the same time we received notice that our rent was going up again.

I have barely worked this year and my husband has used up all of his sick pay. We are on the last couple of months of his reduced paychecks and insurance benefits. If there is any chance to save his life we have to jump on it now.

Thank you for your donations. We are very grateful and pray that you are blessed tenfold in return.