Remembering Phil Booker

This is my friend Phil. He is important to me and my wife Melanie. Phil and Melanie met in High School, he mentored me in my early twenties and twenty years ago he was the minister that married us. To say that he's played a special role in our lives would be an understatement.

This time last year we learned that Phil had Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and in November 2022 he completed his treatment and was in remission. Just recently, after a few tests and biopsies, the doctors found that the cancer has returned.

A cancer diagnosis is devastating news for any individual or family, so you can only imagine what it must be like to fight cancer, receive clear scans and then just a little over six months later hear the words "You have cancer" AGAIN. While the Booker family never wanted to be dealing with cancer or its treatments they are grateful that they caught this recurrence early.

The first time around they had no idea what was in store for them and were completely unaware of the deep financial stress that comes along with a cancer diagnosis. We know from personal experience that cancer treatments can cost up to $150,000. Even with insurance, the out-of-pocket expenses are sometimes more than the average family can bear. Cancer patients are 2.5 times more likely to declare bankruptcy than healthy people. We know Phil, Ayhanna and the Booker family as a loving, generous and serving family who would never ask for anything if they didn't think they really needed it, so we are asking for them.

They haven't even had a chance to recover from the cost of the first round of treatments, they're already facing medical bills from the most recent diagnostic tests and the bills from Phil's second round of treatments haven't even come yet. They have one child going off to college in less than a month and another child that will be graduating this school year.

In the next couple of weeks, Phil will undergo a cancer treatment called Car-T cell therapy. This is designed to engineer his immune cells to fight cancer that seems to stubbornly exist in his body. They are so grateful for all the ways they have been strengthened and encouraged by the prayers, songs, words of wisdom, meals, conversations, walks, etc. and we ask that you continue to pray for wisdom, complete elimination of his cancer and the negative effects it could have on Phil’s body. But, we are also asking that you give as generously as possible financially to help meet their immediate needs. This is a really tough thing to go through but we have seen God work many times before and know he can do more than we ask or imagine. We also know that without the generosity of others, we would not have made it through our cancer journey as a family.

Please give any amount that you can and help us surpass this goal! Should you desire to give in another way as well, please consider making a purchase from their Amazon Wish List below! Something you purchase here will be one less item they have to buy and every little bit helps!

Amazon Wish List:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2FZ7U29I510DF?ref=cm_sw_sm_r_un_un_fxvILtSgfJ7DT

With love and gratitude,

Ray & Melanie Kabia