Help The Higgins Family

Over fifteen years ago, one warm April morning, I walked into a small church in Woodbury, Tennessee for the very first time. I was met with friendly faces and a  pastor who brought me to a real encounter with Jesus Christ. All it took was one message delivered by David Higgins speaking about the goodness of God and I was compelled to give my life to Christ. That was how David always preached. Every message, although I'm sure not perfect, was full of passion, intellect, and conviction.

That same day, I met my future husband and so many other people who I would spend the next years of my life developing relationships with, including David's wife, Tracy and their four kids. David and Tracy took Chris and I under their wing, ministered to us, taught us about the Bible and God, and showed up when we needed them. We spent many days at their house for Bible studies, dinners, or just swimming and enjoying their company. We considered them family. 

When Chris and I married in June 2008, we could imagine no one else but David performing our ceremony and sharing in such a special day with us. His girls served as flower girls for our procession. 

When Chris and I were having issues, David and Tracy were who we went to for advice, and they were always willling to help.

A few years later when my son, Christian, was born in February 2011 with complex medical issues and had an extended hospital stay after birth, David and Tracy were right there. They helped us maintain our faith in God during such a difficult time.  Tracy gave me a job at her in home day care while I was pregnant and after Christian was born, and offered to allow me to bring Christian with me to work so that I could watch him closely and keep an eye on his medical needs. Once Christian was home from the hospital and I needed so much time off that no employer would have ever put up with me, Tracy sent me off with a smile and always understood that although I loved my job and wanted it, I had to take care of Christian's needs first, get him to his dozens of appointments each month, and make sure he was being taken care of above all else. She never flenched when I would show her my list of doctor's appointments that I would need time off for. 

David and Tracy are just good people. 

For so many years and so many times, David and Tracy stood in the gap for me and my family, and now it's my turn to stand in the gap for them. 

November of last year, on a day j ust like any other, David woke up and went to work. Not long after arriving, he suffered a sudden and unexpected seizure. He was immidiately rushed to a hospital in Nashville where he remained unconscious for a time. His family was frightened and confused as to why their healthy forty-something husband and father was suddenly ill. 

An MRI and biopsy revealed an Anaplastic Astrocytoma Grade lll Brain Cancer, or in layman's terms, an inoperable  brain tumor. David did regain consciousness and was lucid, but did not recall anything about his medical episode. 

Since then, David has been fighting this brain tumor, and his family has been put through the ringer trying to cope with the dramatic and sudden life change. The Higgins went from a typical family just making a living and getting their kids through school, to a family striken with grief at watching David deteriorate, trying to figure out how to manage with their main wage earner no longer working, and attempting to have some sense of normalcy while David continued to suffer from severe seizures, many cancer treatments, and disorientation and even vision loss due to the treatments and the tumor.

David has been in and out of the hospital multiple times since November, having seizures that won't stop until he is put into a medical coma. Tracy is exhausted with trying to run her in home day care, continue to care for her children and help them cope, and care for David and his ever increasing medical needs while still trying to maintain her household.

 None of David's treatments have been successful, and now hospice is being called in. On top of that, they stand to lose their house to foreclosure soon. The burden of medical bills coupled with the loss of an entire income has been too much. David has insurance from what I understand, but it is minimal and there are many out of pocket expenses. 

I wish that there was something we could do to make David's brain tumor go away and make him well. Prayer is the only thing I know to do in that respect. But, I do know that we can help financially. I want to do what I can, and I am asking for your help. We can help David and Tracy keep a roof over their head and take some of the stress and burden off of them during this hard time. 

Please help however you can.