HELP Mark Malloy Kick PANCREATIC CANCER'S Butt

Hi, my name is Laura Malloy. I am fundraising for my husband Mark.

December 3rd the world stopped for my beloved hubby, MM, and me.

Cancer… what an ugly word.

The doctors said I got him to the hospital just in time. We were blessed that day because we stepped outside into the daylight. I looked at my hubby and blurted out ,"OMG, you are YELLOW!!! You are going to the hospital NOW!!!"

Then just ten short day later, on the 13th, we learned just how much the world had flipped on end. MM looked so brave and so frail all at the same time. What a long day with my honey at the Cancer Center hearing a “quick” Reader’s Digest condensed version, a diagnostic explanation of everything. And, I mean EVERYTHING. Yet all you seem to hear is “Cancer.”

You feel like you are in some sort of horrible nightmare and you just can’t wake-up. Your head is spinning, and you feel sick to your stomach, as if Mike Tyson punched you hard in the gut; and you just hope that no one heard the “OOF” as you took the blow. You can see the doctors mouth moving, almost in slow motion, droning on, muffled and almost far-away. You feel disconnected from what is happening, yet almost hyper-focused on what the doctor is telling you, grateful when you hear something about a pre-treatment “meeting” with your team right after the first of the year…yeah, Happy New Year. Somewhere in your head you hear a muffled plaintive wail, “CANCER, Cancer, cancer” fading into some far recess of your mind to be processed and reprocessed countless times ad nauseum

We learned who the enemy is- Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma The world shattered and exploded into a million fractured questions that flood the mind in an instant, and came crashing down around us. It feels as if time stood still and went speeding out of control at the same time.

However, I believe that our prayers and yours reached G-D’s ear. We did get some good news, as if there is “good news “ when someone is diagnosed, it is stage 1b. What that means is that it is contained in the pancreas but the tumor is not retractable. MM has to go through several cycles of chemotherapy to hopefully shrink it to where it hopefully can be removed through a surgery that is called a pancreaticoduodenectomy that’s a mouthful, commonly recognized as “The Whipple Procedure” It involves removing the head of the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, the gallbladder and the bile duct.

So, we have a couple of weeks – Ha, weeks?? months - that are going to be crazy busy!!! Testing, scans, and pre-chemo treatment to gain weight and gain strength, and then he will get a port put into his neck. He was approved for home palliative care (not hospice!!!!); my home health nurse will be MMs nurse and that’s a good thing as they already have a rapport. It is so very important to have confidence in your team, and it takes a strong cohesive team of both professionals, and family and friends!

However, it is completely overwhelming dealing with all the doctors, oncologists, surgeons, dietitian, case manager, specialty nurses, and teaching myself on how to be the Primary vitals taker, caregiver, note taker – for everything, scheduler, financial manager, and temporary chauffeur; oh, if you forgot, because of my own personal health issues, I am legally blind in my left eye! WOOHOO, lookout. This is hopefully just temporary until we can setup transportation. And, the phone just keeps ringing with more and more. Or is that the ringing in our heads? There are so many aspects to that ugly word - physical, emotional, financial and spiritual.

Bottom line- MM SAYS FIGHT!!!

As many of you know, Cancer is a very expensive disease. Out-of-pocket expenses are projected to be about $45,000.00 just for the initial expenses; on average the costs can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars!! It costs so much on so many levels. There are the medical costs of the disease, the emotional cost of fighting the disease, the daily costs, the toll it will take on his body, as he fights this ugly word – Cancer. Those who have battled any type of cancer know the hell that he will struggle through – weight-loss, nausea, vomiting, hair-loss, freezing cold and then hot flushes (much different than a hot-flash…iykyk), feeling like you have the flu – ALL THE TIME.

For those on a fixed income, the financial costs can ruin a family. But Cancer does not discriminate between who can afford it and those who cannot afford the exorbitant costs to fight Cancer. Any savings we had were used to help me through my medical problems. So, we are exploring and applying for everything we can. However, even though this is Cancer, and we are both only on Social Security Disability, we “earn” too much to qualify for state Medicaid. MM has Medicare and an Advantage plan so many of the medical costs should be covered; but we do need to ask our ins carrier about his current situation. Furthermore, the Cancer Center does have a financial center that helps with researching and locating some external resources. One program offered, if you qualify, would dismiss any remaining charges left after Medicare and the supplemental advantage plan. This will help tremendously if approved. We are trying to do everything we can to give MM a GOOD fighting chance. OH, dear Lord, there is so much to do.

Nevertheless, there will be many other things not covered, both medically and personal items that will help MM stay as comfortable as possible during his battle against this devastating disease - a new mattress, a small tv for his room -for those really bad days, a supply of masks and gloves, bottles of hand sanitizer, extra sheets and blankets, medical equipment the ins doesn't cover - bp machine, thermometer, O2, scale, log books...there is so much more but my brain just cant seem to think. I know there will be more expenses than the assistance that I have asked, but we have to start somewhere. I am trying to make this a Christmas to remember. Please, help if you can, every donation will help tremendously. Please share on your page, share with friends, share with everybody.

Thank You <3 and Bless You