Steve (Papa) needs a life saving drug

To family, friends, and all other’s this may reach,

I am Lori Wangsness, the wife of Steven Wangsness. Together with his son Chris and daughter Corrine, we are fundraising on Steve’s (aka Papa’s) behalf to help save his life. Steve is a cancer survivor only to develop a very rare blood clotting disorder and is in need a very expensive drug that is not covered by his medical insurance to treat the disorder.

Steve was diagnosed with cancer in June, 2019. During the next year, he had multiple surgeries and extensive treatments that compromised his immune system, left him weak, exhausted, and very thin. While there were times he felt helpless, his family (especially his beautiful granddaughters) provided the support and encouragement needed and he became more determined to conquer this horrible disease and enjoy life again with his family and friends.

Over the next few years, Steve continued to confront and fight each new side effect from the cancer treatments that have been debilitating, life threatening, and discouraging. Steve is cancer free today, however, with a weakened immune system, Steve has had several near fatal situations, but always finds the strength, determination, and will to survive. Steve so enjoys life and is not ready to give up the fight. His tenacity to not quit and perseverance to overcome difficult challenges should be admired by all and used as a role model through all life’s obstacles.

Steve has three main goals that he is fighting so hard for to achieve:

Steve’s new challenge and where we need your help:

In May 2022, Steve was diagnosed with very low hemoglobin counts. His count was 5.4 - anything below a 5 is fatal. He had several blood and iron transfusions over the next few weeks. The transfusions would increase the counts for a short while, however, because his skin had become so thin, he would get skin tears that came along with hard to control bleeding. This would drop his hemoglobin counts back down in the 5 and 6 ranges resulting in more transfusions.

On June 11th, 2022, Steve woke up at 2:00 am in excruciating pain in his leg. He had developed a small lump on his left leg, that was extremely painful. We didn’t know at the time that it was a hematoma. By 5:30 am, it grew to the size of a softball and he could not put any pressure on the leg. We rushed him to the ER by ambulance. Before he got there, the hematoma burst, shooting blood out of the leg. If we had not called an ambulance and got him to the ER as quick as we did, the doctors indicated he would have bled to death. Steve was in the ICU for 8 days and had daily surgeries to control the bleeding of the hematoma. After extensive blood testing and analysis, the Hematology department determined that Steve is not able to form clots in his blood, which was something completely new for him in the last few months. The doctors explained that he has a very rare condition where one of his clotting factors is not activating, resulting in all downstream factors to not activate, thus the blood will not clot. They explained that less than a handful of people have this condition, however, it is very treatable.

The drug that Steve needs to treat this disease is very expensive and costs between $400,000 and $500,000. Steve’s medical insurance does not cover the cost of the drug so we are asking for your help. Steve has been fighting so hard to stay alive and achieve his goals that we are determined to help him with his journey. Any donation will go directly to Steve to help cover the cost of the drug, any additional medical expenses not covered by insurance, as well as in-home physical therapy needed to build his strength back up. No amount is too small and anything you can provide is very much appreciated. We also want to thank you in advance for even considering a donation in these difficult economic times.