Help with medical and emergency bills

I've done a couple of these before now, and they never get easier even as things get worse.

Over the past year our lives have gotten steadily worse, and while we've tried to fight our way through, the past few months in particular have just combined to crush us. I don't ask for help lightly, and I know I've already been the subject of people's generosity, but at this point we're out of options.

In the past few months we've had extremely expensive vet bills before the death of Puck, our elderly but beloved white cat. That served as a nice big kick in the teeth to open up for the following:

My diabetic retinopathy has worsened to the point where I became unable to write for more than a few minutes at a time, crippling my ability to do the freelance writing I'd been doing up until now. I have applied for provincial disability, but have not heard back yet.

My wife had a stent placed due to a nearly complete blockage of her artery; after she recovered from that, during a routine scan, they found a large mass in her abdomen - she is waiting to see her oncologist in December and will be undergoing major surgery soon. As you could likely expect, the stress from this diagnosis has already made it hard for her to work and attend her cardiac rehab program.

And now while trying to weather all of this, our furnace just died. We are dealing with daily lows of -4 F/-19 C. which puts us in danger of seeing our pipes freeze. The new furnace will cost nearly $8,000, and this comes at a time where if we don't replace it soon we could end up with damage that would render our house basically unlivable.

So here I am asking for help. I know it's rough for many people and only getting worse, but I honestly can't see another option here. Thank you for reading this far and if you can help us, I would be grateful beyond my ability to express it.