Support Rachel's Fight Against Stage 4 Cancer

The picture you see is the love of my life Rachel Jane Esposito. A beautiful woman, a loving mother, a woman who cares more about others than herself. We met in high school 24 years ago and have been together since. 2 beautiful children, Rory and Isabella, and a gaggle of animals complete our life together.

Rachel has never had it easy. She was born with spina bifida but surpassed all the limitations the disease and the doctors gave her. She has thrived in life within her bodies limitations and is truly an amazing woman. Through all of that she has been plagued by chronic infections. Osteomyelitis and pseudomonas caused her to become an amputee 5 years ago. Covid hit and the struggle to get her a prosthetic and a sleeve she was not allergic too was very difficult. She kept trying and persisting but a new battle loomed we were unprepared for. Approximately 1 year ago she became paralyzed from the waist down. Multiple tests and multiple doctors later we discovered a possible cause: L1 in her spine is impinged and multiple other discs have protrusions and degradation. We assumed that the spina bifida and everyday life was taking its toll, but we were about to get hit with unimaginable news.

On Mother’s Day 2024 my beautiful wife had back to back seizures. The fear, the anxiety, the misery of not knowing what is happening in my wife’s body is brutal. After multiple CT scans found “nodules” throughout her body and a biopsy on her breast, we got the unthinkable news: stage 4 Cancer. Cancer around her brain, her lungs, her breast, her liver, and her spine. The first oncologist said to make her comfortable and she may have 6 months. The second oncologist is much more hopeful to get her some more time with me, our girls, and her loving family. Currently we are getting multiple MRIs on her brain and spine to see the severity. They are starting medications and shots to help slow the cancer. They were brutally honest: It is incurable. But even knowing that if she can be here longer for our girls, to watch them grow and graduate and maybe even have children, to be there and support her family and friends, we will do whatever we can to make that happen.

We will fight this cancer as best as we can. The biggest thing in our fight we need now is help. I have been the sole provider for my wife and kids for around 10 years. Rachel was able to work intermittently until around then. In this day and age being the sole provider is almost impossible, but we get thru and we make it work. I work for an amazing company that has been very understanding and is allowing me to take as much time as I need (even in our busy season) to take her to the doctors appointments and scans and hospital and more. But I have almost exhausted my time paid time off. Family and friends have been amazing in supporting my wife emotionally and helping her with her needs while I’m at work. But only a few of us are able to lift her and get her around to her appointments and treatments. I do not like asking for help. But god forbid these are our last days together, I want to be here to support her and love her and take care of her to the very end. And help is what I need to do that. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story.