Hope And A Home
Donation protected
Earlier this year, after dreaming of and working towards this goal for many years, my wife Kim and I secured land and a modular home that we would move into, to provide security for our children and a forever home for our son, who is severely autistic and who will almost certainly require 24/7 assistance for the rest of his life. It was a goal we had sought to attain for over a decade, and we were about to achieve it. Everything was going to change.
And then it did.
On June 20th, Kim was diagnosed with Stage IV synovial sarcoma. The shock was intense; on the verge of achieving our dreams, it seemed that it was all going to be snatched away. To compound matters, the costs of treatments and travel rapidly escalated, and we lost our home. Currently, all five of us as living with my sister-in-law's 2 bedroom apartment.
Kim's median survival time with treatment is projected as 12-24 months, but new therapies are coming on-stream all the time, and she is due to start a clinical trial for a new immunotherapy in January. However, even if successfully treated, she will require surgery and thus will be unable to work for many months.
She has health insurance, but like millions of others, her copays are crippling us. Her doctors have decided that they have to get very aggressive from the outset, which means many expensive, exhausting chemo sessions. Treatments currently run to almost $1000 a month. Earlier this month, she had to go on medical leave from her job, and has applied for temporary disability and Medicaid. Unfortunately, neither of these benefits will start until after the New Year. We will make it, I know, even with these reduced means, but the immediate future will be very tough.
Cancer treatments and finishing work on the property have destroyed what few savings we had, and now we are living hand-to-mouth.
We cannot finish our home. We still live on my sister-in-law's floor, and progress on finishing the house has ground to a halt.
We need help.
I have no right to ask for it, even from a community as positive and generous as this one, but we have no choice; we are out of options.
Please, I beg you; we need ~$1800 to finish the well, electric and sewer system for the modular home, and to build a wheelchair-friendly porch and entrance to the house, together with final payment on the transportation of the modular home itself to the site.
If we can secure the funds, our children will have a home, and my wife a safe place to face whatever comes next.
Thank you for your time.
And then it did.
On June 20th, Kim was diagnosed with Stage IV synovial sarcoma. The shock was intense; on the verge of achieving our dreams, it seemed that it was all going to be snatched away. To compound matters, the costs of treatments and travel rapidly escalated, and we lost our home. Currently, all five of us as living with my sister-in-law's 2 bedroom apartment.
Kim's median survival time with treatment is projected as 12-24 months, but new therapies are coming on-stream all the time, and she is due to start a clinical trial for a new immunotherapy in January. However, even if successfully treated, she will require surgery and thus will be unable to work for many months.
She has health insurance, but like millions of others, her copays are crippling us. Her doctors have decided that they have to get very aggressive from the outset, which means many expensive, exhausting chemo sessions. Treatments currently run to almost $1000 a month. Earlier this month, she had to go on medical leave from her job, and has applied for temporary disability and Medicaid. Unfortunately, neither of these benefits will start until after the New Year. We will make it, I know, even with these reduced means, but the immediate future will be very tough.
Cancer treatments and finishing work on the property have destroyed what few savings we had, and now we are living hand-to-mouth.
We cannot finish our home. We still live on my sister-in-law's floor, and progress on finishing the house has ground to a halt.
We need help.
I have no right to ask for it, even from a community as positive and generous as this one, but we have no choice; we are out of options.
Please, I beg you; we need ~$1800 to finish the well, electric and sewer system for the modular home, and to build a wheelchair-friendly porch and entrance to the house, together with final payment on the transportation of the modular home itself to the site.
If we can secure the funds, our children will have a home, and my wife a safe place to face whatever comes next.
Thank you for your time.
Organizer and beneficiary
Callum MacAlister
Organizer
Bellefontaine, MO
Kimberly MacAlister
Beneficiary