Life is precious!

Your help is needed for a truly wonderful cause!

My name is Joe McKittrick and over the past few years as manager at a local branch I have had the true pleasure of getting to know Theresa Powers, her husband Peter and her family. Theresa is the 'Mom' at the bank to both employees and customers. Clients travel from outside our area just to see Theresa due to her warm personality and smile.
However, Theresa hasn't had too much to smile about in 2016 and you could not make this up. Sadly, earlier in the year Theresa's father passed away with aggressive stomach cancer, leaving her to mind for her  blind mother who is in her 80's. Theresa was left shaken by his death, but sucked it up to take care of her mum who needs round the clock care. Throughout all this she still managed to help run a very busy bank and keep smiling every day for her customers.
Only to finally get on her feet from all that was thrown at her, Theresa arrived home a few months ago to be told by her husband Peter, of more than 30 years, that he was truly not feeling well. This unleashed a sequence of many visits to the hospital being bounced from doctor to doctor, until they finally discovered that Peter has stage 4 stomach cancer and because it has spread, there is little they can do.

So why GO FUND ME?

Theresa is like most of us in that her kids are not long out of school and at the early stage of getting established in life and therefore, they live from week to week and depend heavily on their weekly wage. Unfortunately, Peter was new to his job, as he was laid off from a previous employer because of cut backs and as a result has limited health insurance and FMLA (Family medical Leave). He is now at home going through chemo. Theresa works 8-6pm most days and has used up most of her FMLA at work due to her dad's illness and death.

Their son was planning to get married in September in 2017, but on doctor's orders given his dad's aggressive cancer, he was encouraged to bring it forward to June 2017. You do the math!

So.......we are asking that you help our GoFundMe to raise enough cash to help with the medical bills, but more importantly raise enough cash to allow Theresa to afford enough unpaid time off from her job to spend her remaining time with the the love of her life and not be stuck in a job that eats into the quality time that they have left.

What would you do if you found out that the person you just shared the majority of your life with is given less than a year to live??? If you could afford to leave your job would you do so and share the remaining months with your loved one? Well, Theresa does not have that luxury, but if we all donate just a small amount we can make that wish become a reality.

I know it's Christmas and everyone is feeling the pinch, but when you go home after work today and look at the one you love, put yourself in Theresa's position. Work becomes irrelevant and only family is important.

Let's make sure Theresa and Peter are given that one last opportunity to make everyday and every moment count!!