Medical bills

Hello! I am Tara Lord-Robert’s and I am fundraising for my good friends Kristi and Joey Davis. They have been experiencing extraordinary medical issues and really need our help. Kristi has not been able to work for 16.5 months and though she is collecting disability it is at a fraction of what her income was.

I asked Joey to share their story:

In January 2022, my wife Kristi started experiencing migraines for about 9 months that affected her travel for work, she didn’t feel comfortable driving and she was getting very little sleep. Kristi was bounced back and forth between Orthopedic and Neurologists for a while before Orthopedics referred to the Pain. Clinic with a diagnosis of some bulging and ruptured discs. At one point a Neurosurgeon diagnosed her with Fibromyalgia. The Neurology team completed multiple scans and tests but they were not able to diagnose or find a medication that was effective in relieving her symptoms.

Kristi had continued to work though she was struggling she worked around it. She quickly found out that the company she had dedicated so many years to was not willing to work with her through this so she made the decision to resign her position. On August 15, 2022, Kristi gave a 30 day notice she would be resigning her position with the company.

On September 5, 2022, Kristi was having severe abdominal pain and asked me to take her to the emergency room. If you know Kristi you know this is abnormal for her to ask for help or take the time of the ER staff. In fact, upon arrival to the hospital Kristi said to me “I feel silly going to the ER for stomach pain”. After some conversation I told to her “we are here now so you might as well figure out what is going on”.

Kristi continued into the hospital and gave the run down of symptoms and how long she had been having them, did she have the Covid vaccination. Blood work and a CAT Scan were ordered. After a short time the ER physician and nurse came into the room, logged into the computer and pulled up the scan as the physician said “well, we did not expect to see this but you have Lung Cancer, there are tumors on your right lung”. He went on to asking if she had ever been a smoker and for those of you that don’t know, Kristi has never smoked a day in her life. They quickly wanted to get the ok to proceed with a hospital admission and have some specialists do their consults. From there Kristi was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Port St. Lucie, Fl. By 8 p.m that night she had seen a specialist for everything and multiple tests were ordered for the days to come. After a week long stay and many tears Kristi was discharged from the hospital with a lung cancer diagnosis and a plan to continue testing and follow up in the days to come.

Kristi and I had previously discussed what our plan would be after she resigned her position. She was in no position to seek other employment at that time and she was the primary income source. We decided to make the move back to Iowa to be close to our family and friends. Kristi wanted to spend time with those most important to her. We shared with our friends and family our plan and I was fortunate enough to be able to return to my previous position. We had some friends assisting us with some contacts to find a rental house that we could quickly move into. Everything fell into place rather quickly. We had to list and sell our Florida home which again went very quick as it sold in 1 day. Next we had to locate an AirBNB as Kristi would need to stay there for 2 months during her treatment. This is where things began to get very costly. We located an AirBNB, actually we had to get 2 as there was not 1 available for 2 months.

Kristi met with Dr. My, her Medical Oncologist after her hospital discharge and from there he gave a referral to a Radiation Oncologist to consult. After seeing Dr. Melotek he believed the best chance would be surgery. He gave a referral to a Thoracic Surgeon, Dr. Savage. Kristi followed up with Dr. Savage, he requested a Pulmonary Function Test, additional blood work etc. After a follow up with Dr. Savage he explained that Kristi would not be a surgical candidate. He revealed he did not believe she would survive the surgery. The rationale was that she failed the Pulmonary Function Test and there was an artery too close to the tumor in the lymph node.

Kristi followed back up with Dr. My. Dr My would also follow up with Dr. Melotek to put together a plan for treatment. It was ultimately decided to do 35 consecutive daily (except weekends) treatments of radiation and 7 weekly treatments of Chemo.

It was after the first Chemo treatment began that I would have to leave Kristi in Florida to complete her treatments as I needed to get to Iowa and start work. Kristi’s sister in law Amber came to stay with her to be sure she got to her treatments and she tolerated them. Saying goodbye was difficult to do even though we had been accustomed to being apart every week, this was different, there were so many unknowns.

Over the next two months we spoke several times a day, for the most part she was tolerating the treatments well. By the end of this round of treatment Kristi was feeling very good and really didn’t have any limitations. Once the treatments were completed it was time for Kristi to come to Iowa so her friend Heather drove her to Iowa .

Kristi was scheduled to see the Medical and Radiation Oncologists at the University of Iowa the following Wednesday. The plan was discussed with Dr. Byrnes, Medical Oncologist to begin 12 months of Immunotherapy beginning in January. After finishing the immunotherapy and discussing the most recent scan with the Oncologist covering for Dr. Byrnes maternity leave, it was decided to do a Pet Scan. A Pet Scan was completed on January 22nd that revealed some growth on two of the tumors in the right lung and a new tumor formed in the right lung. Dr. Furqan who is covering for Dr. Byrnes shared the results of the Pet Scan with Kristi and I. He also shared that since there was new growth, the cancer was no longer curable. He said we would only be treating to by more time, how much depends on how well she responds to the radiation and chemo. Kristi has completed the 5 radiation treatments. These treatments have been difficult on her in terms of pain. She has felt the sensation during the radiation. This sensation would get more intense throughout the day and night causing the need for additional pain medication. Dr. Plicta, Radiation Oncologist says the pain will begin to subside over the next two weeks. Her chemo has not yet started. The Infusion Center says they are waiting on Prior Authorization and the insurance company says they are waiting on clinic notes…..so now we wait for the two to sort it out.

We do have medical insurance but our medical bills after insurance for last year were over $8k, we were making monthly payments on those and began getting medical bills from Florida for 2022 to pay. We are now starting 2024 with another round of treatments and still making the payments on the last 2 years medical bills. We have a great deal of travel with these appointments and treatments. We are also now awaiting approval on our referral to the Mayo Clinic to consult on Kristi’s spine and right hip pain. The orthopedic at the University of Iowa diagnosed her with Post Radiation Scoliosis with no option for treatment. He has no opinion on the right hip though the Pain Clinic has treated unsuccessfully with injections. We are also still supporting our youngest daughter while she finishes college.

If you are able to help my friends with a financial donation it would be appreciated more than you could ever know. If you are unable to give financially, and willing to say a prayer, they need many of those as well.