Matthew Manuel's Cancer Journey
Donation protected
On Friday June 22nd, 2018, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer. I have a long journey ahead of me with therapy. I am going to fight this and live to be old(er) and gray(er). There are so many things I have left to do in this life and cancer is not going to stop me.
Earlier this year I had a financial setback with a double surgery on my left arm and hand, both carpal tunnel release and cubital tunnel decompression. I was off work completely for four weeks and worked half time for two. During this time I lived off short term disability which of course was a financial setback but I acclimated well in that short time and set up payment plans for my out of pocket health expenses. Thankfully, for this year, 2018, I have hit my max out of pocket of $3,000 for my health insurance plan but I am still making monthly payments to Unity Point, PCI, Linn County Anesthesiologists and Mercy. My plan was to have them all paid off by October, that is until I received my cancer diagnosis.
With this diagnosis I will once again be placed on disability and have a similar financial setback but it will be for many months and possibly years. It will take longer for me to acclimate, of course but I know I have a wonderful support network with both family and friends. My goal is to be as stress free and healthy as possible. Angie is going to help as much as she can but she will of course need a team backing her up and we definitely have that. We feel the love in full force and are prepared to move forward and beat this together.
If you want to help, contribute five or ten dollars to this campaign, send a care package, send a gift card, knit me an ugly Christmas sweater, restring my guitar, put a new roof on my house and don't fall off and sue me, clean our gutters because we hate doing that, fix my sidewalk, pressure wash the siding on our house, sing me a lullaby in Spanish and do the macarena. There are so many ways to help and I set up this page to make it easier for some people because we are all very busy with life and I understand that.
One thing I would like to do is take another road trip with Angie before my health declines. Ever since our trip out West in 2016 we have wanted to do it over again and see even more National Parks. I am hoping we can do this in July for two to three weeks before I start therapy.
Again, thank you so much for reading, caring, donating time, money or gifts...anything helps. Feel free to reach out to me and say hey any time and I look forward to many wonderful conversations when I am able to respond.
Earlier this year I had a financial setback with a double surgery on my left arm and hand, both carpal tunnel release and cubital tunnel decompression. I was off work completely for four weeks and worked half time for two. During this time I lived off short term disability which of course was a financial setback but I acclimated well in that short time and set up payment plans for my out of pocket health expenses. Thankfully, for this year, 2018, I have hit my max out of pocket of $3,000 for my health insurance plan but I am still making monthly payments to Unity Point, PCI, Linn County Anesthesiologists and Mercy. My plan was to have them all paid off by October, that is until I received my cancer diagnosis.
With this diagnosis I will once again be placed on disability and have a similar financial setback but it will be for many months and possibly years. It will take longer for me to acclimate, of course but I know I have a wonderful support network with both family and friends. My goal is to be as stress free and healthy as possible. Angie is going to help as much as she can but she will of course need a team backing her up and we definitely have that. We feel the love in full force and are prepared to move forward and beat this together.
If you want to help, contribute five or ten dollars to this campaign, send a care package, send a gift card, knit me an ugly Christmas sweater, restring my guitar, put a new roof on my house and don't fall off and sue me, clean our gutters because we hate doing that, fix my sidewalk, pressure wash the siding on our house, sing me a lullaby in Spanish and do the macarena. There are so many ways to help and I set up this page to make it easier for some people because we are all very busy with life and I understand that.
One thing I would like to do is take another road trip with Angie before my health declines. Ever since our trip out West in 2016 we have wanted to do it over again and see even more National Parks. I am hoping we can do this in July for two to three weeks before I start therapy.
Again, thank you so much for reading, caring, donating time, money or gifts...anything helps. Feel free to reach out to me and say hey any time and I look forward to many wonderful conversations when I am able to respond.
Organizer
Matthew Manuel
Organizer
Cedar Rapids, IA
