Help Suzi to BEAT BACK CANCER & get her Dream Vacation!

Hello World, Family & Friends!

I am one of the lucky people. I was fortunate enough to meet the love of my life in high school. My name is Rich Lickfield. I am Sue Lickfield's Husband.

Here are some fun statistics:

Key High School Relationship Statistics

*The Hive Law

Oh brother! I knew that we were in the minority, but less than 1% minority??? How lucky am I? If you know Suzi, then you know that I am luckier than I deserve to be.

Back in 2018, Suzi got herself a batch of breast cancer. This was previously the scariest day in my life. After many months of exhausting chemotherapy, surgery, and then radiation treatment, she was declared to be cancer-free or in remission. During her chemotherapy sessions, Sue, like many people who undergo chemo, started losing her hair. She was brave and decided to cut it all off before it fell out in patches. To keep it light-hearted, I gave her a Mohawk cut. :-)

This was an emotional moment for her, but she laughed for her granddaughters who were there encouraging their Nana on.

We celebrated her defeat of breast cancer and put it in the past.

https://youtube.com/shorts/FvHx1FlIzc4?si=X8yNu5HPAhGjYZKl

Soon after this, her younger sister Rosie, who also had beaten cancer, found that her cancer returned and metastasized. After a brave second battle with cancer, we lost Rosie the week before Christmas in 2022.

(Rosie is sitting on Suzi's lap. Suzi had broken her ankle a couple of months before this fundraiser for Rosie's medical bills)

Several months ago, Sue discovered a lump on her breast. After getting examined, it was found that there were several lumps. Further tests revealed that her breast cancer had returned and it has metastasized throughout her body. The dreaded Stage 4 cancer that rarely has a good result. We were informed that it was incurable and that her treatments were supposed to arrest the growth and help to maintain her bone strength as well as manage pain. It is terminal. Hearing this news was the scariest day of my life.

Now, Suze has been out of work for about three months due to the cancer and our summer business has enabled us to keep up; however, summer is rapidly coming to an end. Last year, we bought our dream home in the country with the intention of living out the rest of our lives there. The mortgage and tax bills are higher than our previous home of 30 years, but we are happy to pay them to live in this beautiful part of the country.

I have loved my Suze since 1981 with all of my heart. She is a fireplug, to say the least. A very fiery Italian woman that doesn't take no crap off of nobody, including me. (One of the things I love most about her!) She is also loyal beyond imagination. She has supported me in every crack-brained scheme I ever came up with. Somehow, we managed to make it.

With the funds donated for her benefit, we will pay our real estate and school tax bills. The money will help us to continue to live in the manner we are accustomed to while Sue is work impaired. Also,

well, I have it in mind to take her on a nice vacation to Italy while she is still healthy enough to enjoy herself. She has never been to Europe. In fact, we have only been to Canada (Niagara Falls) and Mexico (the touristy part). I want to take her away. I don't want her to worry about a single thing and just relax and enjoy herself and experience some places with real history. Our history... You see, our mothers' families each migrated from Italy and eventually settled in Rome, NY where we went to high school and voila...here we are.

We have raised three children. Sent them all to college and even managed to see our daughter Mandy married. She gave us two granddaughters. Our son Logan is raising a beautiful baby girl. We were fortunate. Three healthy and super smart kids. Richie, the one in the middle, has a successful restaurant in Colorado Springs.

(Left to Right: Mike (the old son-in-law), Mandy, Me, Richie, Suzi, and Logan)

Please join us and if you can, contribute something to help us to bring Suzi the vacation of her dreams, and hopefully to give us some breathing room with our bills. New York State has a funny rule about collecting disability benefits from Social Security. They make you wait 6 months from the time you apply. She won't get paid until well into the winter months. She has enough to worry about without the anxiety of financial pressures.

P.S. Sue Lickfield does not really like the idea of "getting a hand-out." I have told her that she has worked hard all of her life (often working 2 and 3 jobs at once to help to provide for her children) and she deserves to get a little assistance if it is offered. She is a proud woman.