HOME forever home

My name is Richard Wachsmann. I live in Valparaiso, Indiana. In October of 2023 my wife of thirty-seven years served me with divorce papers. Divorce in Indiana calls for a 50/50 split of home value. Any remaining debt is incurred by the spouse who retains the home.

I am retired, and three of my five sons live at home. My youngest is twenty-one years old and has autism. He can read and play the piano, and his brothers and I adore him! My fourth son, who is also twenty-one, has cystic fibrosis. Although he technically lives

with his mother, he is at my house 95 percent of the time between 1 and 8 p.m. Our neighbors love him! The oldest of the three who are living at home is twenty-seven. He has a heart condition and has had two open-heart surgeries to replace a valve. He works part time, less than forty hours a week. My third son, who is twenty-three years old, does not work. His phobias are evidenced by his repetitive handwashing. Covid made his condition worse. My oldest son, twenty-seven, lives independently in Texas. I miss him so much.

The mortgage of the house we reside in has a remaining balance of $54,000. My hope is that half the appraisal value of $278,000, which is $139,000, will be paid to my ex-spouse (who wants a buyout of the home as soon as possible), and the remaining

mortgage would be mine to pay. The home would then be paid and put in my name, allowing me to put it in trust as a HOME Forever Home for my sons who wish to live there. We need to raise $193,000. We can do this with your help. All our sons were

adopted from Eastern Europe, and we never asked anyone for financial help to adopt them. Only one acquaintance, a Christian principal, and his wife, gave us $20 to go out to eat to celebrate our first adoption. We were so thankful for their consideration and gift!

I initially wanted to go live with this GoFundMe page on my birthday, January 27th. However, I had to go to the ER at the local hospital on January 23rd and then have emergency surgery because of an infection. They drained an abscess from my large

intestine on the 24th, and I was released on January 28th. After a CAT scan and PET scan, it was determined that I had cancer on my pancreas. As of this writing, I have had seven chemo treatments because of my stage-2 pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

I met with my oncologist on July 16th to talk about my PET scan of a week earlier. I received good news: the cancer location has shrunk and is now a mass of dead cells! The doctor wants me to have five more chemo treatments, followed by surgery. My last

chemo treatment (the seventh) took place on July 23rd. The first few days have been rough, and it seems that each treatment has longer side effects. Please pray for my physical strength and spiritual wisdom.

November 1, 2024 After my seventh chemo treatment I was sick in bed most of the time for twenty-one days. I was scheduled for a another treatment but after consulting with the doctor we decided we would forgo the eighth Chemo treatment and follow up in a few months. I have felt much better the last few months and have gained weight. On November 18th I am scheduled for a PET scan.

And please contribute to our cause so that we can stay in our home. Thank you for your generosity to help provide a future, mortgage-free home for my sons! Be blessed!