George Moondog's Cancer Fund

Nicci here. As many of you probably know, our sweet beloved George, the center of our world, has been battling cancer since last November. It first showed up as anal sac cancer. It was promptly removed and the next time we checked on it, it was back in his other anal sac. We then had to go back in for surgery and remove this one along with his spleen just in case it spread there as well.

He had his tri-monthly checkup today and the oncologist is now seeing something in his lungs and possibly his stomach. We can't be sure if it is cancer or not until they do further testing, but regardless, he wants to remove it, which is going to require CT scans and surgery. It is going to be another $10,000 again, give or take a buck.

His oncology exams are about every 3 months (each visit is $1300) and the surgeries have been about $7-$8,000 a piece. CT Scans and imaging have tacked on a couple extra thousand as well, rounding each of these times to be $10,000 apiece. This will be his third one. To put it buntly, we have spent alot of money that we do not have. More than $30,000 so far.

I (Nicci) have been in-between jobs for over a year now. Unemployment exhausted itself months ago, and I have tirelessly applied for hundreds of jobs, have interviewed about 20 times and have been followed up with only rejection emails. So I have had to Doordash to barely make bills each month. Andy's worked at grocery stores all his life, so, all that being said, we have always lived paycheck to paycheck.

We have avoided asking for help publicly thus far, however at this point we don't have much of a choice. Our resources have basically been exhausted. Our savings accounts are depleted. Our credit card is maxed out. Andy has had to take out a loan on his 401k but that will only cover the most recent oncology exam and CT scan. Last year we did receive a one-time donation from Andy's dad and stepmom, which we will forever be grateful for.

For the past several years George HAS had pet insurance (it's about $50 a month and has been doable between the 2 of us), however anyone with pet insurance knows that there is a LARGE deductible, they only cover a portion of it, there is a max amount that they will cover (last year we hit that max with all of his surgeries, thankfully with the new year it started over), and it gets reimbursed to us AFTER we have paid the bill.

In the case we meet our goal for surgery, and we do get reimbursed from insurance, the rest will go to his tri-monthly oncology visits that he will have to have for the rest of his life which are $1300 a visit.

I have had George for 11 years now and he has been the first being I talk to when I wake up and the last one I talk to before I go to bed and has been my little spoon every night for 11 years. At times he has really been my only friend, and is without a doubt my best friend and soul mate. He really rescued me from very dangerous lifestyles and people and I've honestly never known a love so constant and pure, and I don't think I ever will. This past year has been harrowing and the grief has been immeasurable. I hate that on top of it, money is such a concern along with all of this sadness and worry.

As long as his oncologist says that his chances are good and we can easily treat this and he has a chance of living a healthy life moving forward, which he thinks that this lung cancer/mystery object (we will post updates) that will be removed, we will do everything we can to treat whatever comes up for him now and in the future. We will find a way somehow. When the time comes and his doctor is no longer hopeful, we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Thank you everyone for your outpouring of love and support for George over the years, it means the world to us.