Support Charlea and Isaac As He Fights Against Cancer

Dear friends, family, and community,

As long-time friends of Isaac and Charlea, we’re coming to you because some of our favorite people need your help and support this holiday season. This summer, our dear friend Isaac was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer - a grade four astrocytoma tumor in his right frontal lobe - that has required emergency brain surgery and radiation. Isaac, his wife Charlea, and the kids need your support so they can focus on fighting against the odds and adjust to their new life, as Isaac faces a tough prognosis.

Isaac and Charlea have experienced many ups and downs in facing medical issues (Charlea herself had to have brain surgery several years ago), and they have financial debt that must be paid in order to pay for Isaac’s long-term care. Please give anything you can (even giving the amount of your next coffee helps) so they don’t have to worry about their finances, on top of worrying about the battle ahead.

If you want to read Charlea and Isaac’s story in full, please keep reading to hear about their journey to now and why they need your support.

Thank you beyond words,

Caeli and Gillian

Isaac & Charlea’s Story

At heart, everything about Isaac and Charleas’s story is a love story. Even when everything came crashing down around them, it's still a love story.

When Isaac and Charlea met ten years ago, they both immediately felt understood, loved, and accepted in a way they had never experienced before. Over the last ten years, they’ve grown together and become better partners for one other in ways they could have never imagined, and Isaac got to become a loving, fun, and supportive co-parent to three really cool kids.

When Charlea’s mom became sick with Alzheimer’s three years into their relationship, they welcomed her into their home so they could care for her full time, despite the additional financial hardship it added to their lives. When Charlea started having headaches that left her feeling tired and in debilitating pain, Isaac took extra care of her, the kids, and her mother, knowing fully that Charlea would do the same for him without hesitation.

After years of experiencing debilitating pain, they finally found out that Charlea had been living with a Chiari malformation - a structural abnormality where her brain was extending into her spinal canal through an opening in the base of her skull, and she needed brain surgery to repair the opening.

Despite the increasing medical bills, they powered through insurance co-pays and credit card payments, knowing that their lives would change for the better when Charlea no longer had to experience the roller coaster of pain she’d been going through each day. They both hoped that this would be the last of their worries and expenses for a long while.

Then, in July of this year, three trees fell on their home during the severe storms and tornadoes that tore through southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas on May 26th. Scattered and under immense stress from experiencing the storm, the Estes-Jones family moved to a temporary rental property until their home could be repaired. Through the stress of having to live in a rental property that wasn’t their own home, and coordinating insurance claims that took a lot of time and energy to process, Charlea thought things couldn’t get any worse.

That’s when Isaac started experiencing severe headaches, mood swings, and personality changes. He was acting like a completely different person than the partner she’d grown with over the last ten years. After Charlea and the kids begged him to get checked out, he finally agreed to go to the ER.

Isaac’s mood swings and personality changes weren’t simply caused by the stress of their situation - doctors confirmed he had a severe brain tumor - a grade four astrocytoma in his right frontal lobe - that needed to be operated on immediately.

The moment she received the news, Charlea felt like the beautiful life they had built together, in spite of the hardships that had been thrown their way, was truly collapsing. Isaac had done nothing that would have caused his brain tumor, and there were no risk factors - so why did this happen to him? Doctors told her they only had eight days before Isaac would need major brain surgery. They had no time to prepare for the worst.

Since Isaac’s brain surgery in July, he has successfully gone through six weeks of chemo and radiation, but doctors confirmed that he will receive chemo on a rotating basis for the rest of his life. While his prognosis is discouraging, Charlea and the kids still hold onto hope and optimism for a miracle. Because surgery, chemo, and radiation haven’t successfully removed all of the tumor, every day Isaac wears a special oncomagnetic helmet, a new device that directly targets cancer cells, in hopes that it will combat the tumor’s growth. Despite this new normal of wearing this device and carrying it with him every day, Isaac and Charlea are doing everything they can to make their days the best they can - full of life and joyful experiences with their friends.

While Isaac and Charlea are doing everything in their power to fight this cancer and stay positive, it's taking all of their time, energy, and finances. They finally were able to pay off their medical bills from Charlea’s brain surgery, but after seven years of taking care of her mother, and having to compensate for what their home insurance refuses to cover from the storm damage, they are struggling to take care of their existing debt.

After Isaac’s diagnosis, they now have to cover the costs of never-ending co-pays and deductibles for Isaac’s treatment, travel to his appointments, relocating and buying a home closer to his medical team, and preparing for a future where Isaac can no longer work as his treatment continues. Their goal is to pay down as much debt as they can now so they are more stable regardless of what lies ahead.

Despite all of their hardships, Charlea was determined to still hold their annual Halloween Party - an event that is Charlea and Isaac’s favorite way to celebrate her and Isaac’s fall birthday season, their love for one another, and their love for their community. With their house still being fixed from the storm, and their new normal having changed forever, they still gathered people together.

That’s just who they are - they show up for their community in joy, despite the immense trials they are going through themselves. Now it’s time for us to show up for them. Please join us in giving whatever you can so that Charlea and Isaac can focus on his journey to healing and recovery and not have to worry about their finances this holiday season.