Medical Financial Relief for Wade & Candice

December 9, 2024 Update from Candice Schroeder

(read more in 'Updates' below)

"There is never enough time to spend with the people you love. The Schroeder family and all those in our orbit feel that now more than ever. There is no treatment that will work and so it has ended. There is no cure. Our time together is limited. Comfort is the focus now. Our hearts feel like they’ve been run through a criss-cross shredder and patched together with unskilled sticky fingers. Cheers to making memories, spending time with those you love, and finding moments of happiness while facing a heartbreaking prognosis."

Initial Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis & Encouraging Progress

In April of 2023, Wade Schroeder had Whipple surgery to remove tumors on his pancreas and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He awoke from surgery with no pancreas and began life as a diabetic. [The surgeon had to conduct a complete pancreatectomy and splenectomy.] Still grateful for a curable pancreatic cancer diagnosis, he and his wife Candice received the further encouraging news that he appeared free of cancer. They began the grueling process of chemotherapy treatments for Wade to be sure.

New Masses on the Liver

Seven months later, and only weeks after walking their older daughter Katerina down the aisle and flying to Chicago to help their younger daughter Annaliese recover from hip surgery, an MRI scan shows three masses on his liver. Wade's Kansas City-based oncologist has halted his chemo treatments until more can be learned through biopsy and has begun the referral process to the oncology experts at well-known Mayo and MD Anderson medical centers.

Change in Retirement Plans

After 28 years serving in secondary administration leadership, Wade retired on July 1, 2022 and eagerly awaited Candice's planned retirement from her 23 years of teaching middle school and high school language arts. Those plans for retirement travel will now instead be traveling to medical centers with stays in long-term housing nearby, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. Paid time off for Candice is running out, so time spent away from work advocating for Wade now becomes a loss of income, making even monthly expenses more of a concern.

How to Support and Donate

Wade and Candice have expressed that the greatest support they can receive is that which comes in the form of words of encouragement and prayer. Please do not hesitate to reach out and please consider sharing this link to invite more prayers of support. It also our goal - the site organizers - to provide friends and family a chance to offer Wade and Candice some financial peace of mind while they focus on the battle at hand. For those in the area, a Meal Train has been started by a family friend as of December 2024 and can be found at this link: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/97o4v6

Natalie Burns, Candice's first cousin, is this GoFundMe campaign coordinator. However, any donations made here will transfer directly to the bank account of Wade and Candice Schroeder. For those new to GoFundMe giving, your gift is considered a personal gift, thus the Schroeders will not pay taxes on your financial support. All but 2.9% + $ .30 per donation will go directly to Wade and Candice. (i.e. They will receive $96.80 of a $100 donation). GoFundMe collects this fee to operate. A donor may decline the automatically suggested "tip" to further support GoFundMe efforts by adjusting it to "$0."

If you would like to give financially in an alternative way, please reach out to Wade, Candice or campaign organizer Natalie Burns.

Learn More

Learn More at Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

The Schroeders - Wade, Candice, Katerina & Chet, Annaliese