Support for a Family Battling Cancer and Hardship

In 2019, my husband Jeff was diagnosed with kidney cancer. It was a very hard time in our lives emotionally and financially. We went from a 2-income family to a no-income family. Both of us started working at the age of 16 and have worked hard all our lives, so it was hard getting used to not being able to pay our own way and adjusting to not having money for basic needs to live. He had his left kidney removed, and it took a very long time for him to heal. He is a very strong-willed person, and with God’s help, he got well enough for me to feel comfortable going back to work. With his SSDI and my paychecks, we were slowly getting back on our feet, but I had a stroke in September of 2022, and my health has not been the best since. I am now unable to work. It will take at least 6 more months for the approval of my social security disability benefits to go through. We are in our late 50s, and our mortgage payments are behind. We are in jeopardy of losing our home. Ever since he was diagnosed with cancer, I have kept most worries away from him because worry can hurt your health, and we need him as strong as he can be. But I had to tell him our situation.

We were told that with the type of kidney cancer he was diagnosed with, the probability of the cancer re-forming in another part of his body was high. He has had blood tests and imaging done every year since, and the 5-year anniversary of him being cancer-free would have been November 12th. Of course, the day after I told him about our financial situation, he had his yearly appointment. Our worst fears seem to have come true; the doctor told us that his blood test showed that he now has prostate cancer. The biopsy is scheduled for December 24th. Until then, we do not know what stage it is or how aggressive it is; therefore, we will not even have a plan of action until January. Fighting the fear and depression is debilitating.

When this nightmare started, we had family that could help us financially and a finance company willing to help us with options to keep our home. We still have a finance company willing to help us, but we must bring our mortgage payments current before they can give us options.

We have confidence that he can beat this illness; his will is still strong, but we need help with the medical expenses that we know are coming and for us to be able to keep our home.