Wife has rare cancer
Donation protected
So I went back and forth on whether not I wanted to do this, and never really considered it all at first. I worry about pride, being judged, and being vulnerable, but after some good advice I decided to swallow my pride and ask for help; finally realizing now was not the time to be too proud to ask for help.
My wife, and mother of our boys who are 7 and 10, was recently diagnosed with a rare cancer called adrenal cortical carcinoma. There are only roughly 300 cases annually in the US so the help available and research for it is limited. It was found at stage 2/3 and has a poor prognosis and a high re-occurrence rate. She had major surgery a few months ago to remove the softball sized tumor. They think they got what they knew was there, but the margin is still positive:( They are going to start treatment with a chemotherapy drug called Mitotane which she will be on for up to 5 years if possible/needed. They are also going to do 1 month of targeted radiation which starts on August 27th. The Side effects most likely are being tired all the time and being nauseous; and unable to sleep well
She had to stop working and at this point its fairly likely she will not be going back to work, which will mean we are adjusting to losing a bit more than 1/3 of our income. She may return to work at sometime, but at this point spending time with the kids and healing her body and mind are higher priorities. We have good insurance through my work, but are quickly learning that medical bills can still add up very quickly even with good insurance. Because the cancer is so rare there is not a ton of expertise around the cities and in making sure we did the most we could, we got a 2nd opinion at the Mayo and a third at the University of Michigan, which involved travel and are out of network of our insurance. This fund is to help pay those medical bills and anything else that comes up so we can avoid as much as possible going into debt; which is seemingly eventual anyway at this rate.
It's hard for me to even come up with the words to thank anyone willing to help, but understand you probably will never know how much it is appreciated. We will take as many prayers and well wishes you can give as well. Thanks,
-Jason
My wife, and mother of our boys who are 7 and 10, was recently diagnosed with a rare cancer called adrenal cortical carcinoma. There are only roughly 300 cases annually in the US so the help available and research for it is limited. It was found at stage 2/3 and has a poor prognosis and a high re-occurrence rate. She had major surgery a few months ago to remove the softball sized tumor. They think they got what they knew was there, but the margin is still positive:( They are going to start treatment with a chemotherapy drug called Mitotane which she will be on for up to 5 years if possible/needed. They are also going to do 1 month of targeted radiation which starts on August 27th. The Side effects most likely are being tired all the time and being nauseous; and unable to sleep well
She had to stop working and at this point its fairly likely she will not be going back to work, which will mean we are adjusting to losing a bit more than 1/3 of our income. She may return to work at sometime, but at this point spending time with the kids and healing her body and mind are higher priorities. We have good insurance through my work, but are quickly learning that medical bills can still add up very quickly even with good insurance. Because the cancer is so rare there is not a ton of expertise around the cities and in making sure we did the most we could, we got a 2nd opinion at the Mayo and a third at the University of Michigan, which involved travel and are out of network of our insurance. This fund is to help pay those medical bills and anything else that comes up so we can avoid as much as possible going into debt; which is seemingly eventual anyway at this rate.
It's hard for me to even come up with the words to thank anyone willing to help, but understand you probably will never know how much it is appreciated. We will take as many prayers and well wishes you can give as well. Thanks,
-Jason
Organizer
Jason Palmquist
Organizer
Hugo, MN
