Missy & Ed Cancer Fund
Donation protected
This is Missy Taylor Waters. I've known Missy since we were 5 years old and misbehaving in kindergarten at Whipple Heights Elementary School in Canton, Ohio. (I'm pretty sure she got me sent to the corner on the first day of school.) We're in our 40s now, with grown up lives and all the ups and downs that entails.
Sometimes the downs are downright catastrophic.
This is Ed Waters, Missy's husband. In 2012, after suffering a seizure, he was diagnosed with a tumor the size of an egg in his brain. It was malignant and needed to be removed right away. He had no health insurance so the hospital told him good luck and sent him on his way.
Their son, Aiden, was just turning 5 at the time his dad was diagnosed.
Fortunately, Missy worked for a doctor who helped them get an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic, where the medical team agreed to take Ed's case and cover most of the costs of surgery. Ed was in the hospital for several weeks for radiation and recovery.
While the surgery was an overall success, Ed's brain was changed and he could no longer work as a big truck mechanic. His disability claim was initially denied by Social Security.
For three years, with help from Ed's dad & Ed's grown-up kids Ashley and Eddie, Missy has been able to keep the family afloat financially and emotionally. They were finally getting somewhere with Ed's disability claim and Missy's job as an LPN was going well. It finally looked like things were going to work out OK.
In May 2015, Missy went for a routine mammogram. They took her for a biopsy that day after looking at the scans. She had a 10 cm malignant tumor in her breast. Followup CAT scans showed that the cancer had already spread to her adrenal gland — one of the rarest metastacis possible from breast cancer. A Stage 4. She's been undergoing chemotherapy since. And, as the family breadwinner, she's been working as much as possible no matter how bad the chemo has had her feeling.
Aiden is just turning 8 this year.
Through it all, Missy and Ed have maintained their hard-won sobriety — despite dealing with challenges that would drive most of us to drink — and have tried to keep Aiden's life as normal as possible. Missy recently finished chemotherapy and some friends are pitching in to help send the family to Disney, giving them all a small respite and the only true family vacation the Waters have ever had.
After Christmas, Missy will undergo surgery to remove the tumors and begin radiation. She will not be able to work for months. Getting well so she can raise her son will become her full-time job.
I'm hoping that this GoFundMe campaign will help provide financial support — to pay for the household and medical bills — in the coming months when the money is needed the most.
Today is Thanksgiving 2015. Most of us can look around at all the things we have, at the health of our families and easily find things to be grateful for. The Waters are looking ahead at all the uncertainties they face, yet today they will gather together and just be thankful that they have each other still.
They're not a couple who easily asks for help, so I'm asking on their behalf.
I can't take away Missy's cancer or rewire Ed's brain, but if this GoFundMe campaign can help give them some much-needed financial support to ease some of their worries, that will be something to be thankful for indeed.
Please consider making a donation. Your support will mean so much — not just financially, but emotionally. Missy likes to joke that if it weren't for bad luck, she wouldn't have any luck at all. But her situation could easily happen to any of us tomorrow. So I thank you, on the Waters' behalf, for helping today.
Sometimes the downs are downright catastrophic.
This is Ed Waters, Missy's husband. In 2012, after suffering a seizure, he was diagnosed with a tumor the size of an egg in his brain. It was malignant and needed to be removed right away. He had no health insurance so the hospital told him good luck and sent him on his way.
Their son, Aiden, was just turning 5 at the time his dad was diagnosed.
Fortunately, Missy worked for a doctor who helped them get an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic, where the medical team agreed to take Ed's case and cover most of the costs of surgery. Ed was in the hospital for several weeks for radiation and recovery.
While the surgery was an overall success, Ed's brain was changed and he could no longer work as a big truck mechanic. His disability claim was initially denied by Social Security.
For three years, with help from Ed's dad & Ed's grown-up kids Ashley and Eddie, Missy has been able to keep the family afloat financially and emotionally. They were finally getting somewhere with Ed's disability claim and Missy's job as an LPN was going well. It finally looked like things were going to work out OK.
In May 2015, Missy went for a routine mammogram. They took her for a biopsy that day after looking at the scans. She had a 10 cm malignant tumor in her breast. Followup CAT scans showed that the cancer had already spread to her adrenal gland — one of the rarest metastacis possible from breast cancer. A Stage 4. She's been undergoing chemotherapy since. And, as the family breadwinner, she's been working as much as possible no matter how bad the chemo has had her feeling.
Aiden is just turning 8 this year.
Through it all, Missy and Ed have maintained their hard-won sobriety — despite dealing with challenges that would drive most of us to drink — and have tried to keep Aiden's life as normal as possible. Missy recently finished chemotherapy and some friends are pitching in to help send the family to Disney, giving them all a small respite and the only true family vacation the Waters have ever had.
After Christmas, Missy will undergo surgery to remove the tumors and begin radiation. She will not be able to work for months. Getting well so she can raise her son will become her full-time job.
I'm hoping that this GoFundMe campaign will help provide financial support — to pay for the household and medical bills — in the coming months when the money is needed the most.
Today is Thanksgiving 2015. Most of us can look around at all the things we have, at the health of our families and easily find things to be grateful for. The Waters are looking ahead at all the uncertainties they face, yet today they will gather together and just be thankful that they have each other still.
They're not a couple who easily asks for help, so I'm asking on their behalf.
I can't take away Missy's cancer or rewire Ed's brain, but if this GoFundMe campaign can help give them some much-needed financial support to ease some of their worries, that will be something to be thankful for indeed.
Please consider making a donation. Your support will mean so much — not just financially, but emotionally. Missy likes to joke that if it weren't for bad luck, she wouldn't have any luck at all. But her situation could easily happen to any of us tomorrow. So I thank you, on the Waters' behalf, for helping today.
Organizer and beneficiary
Nadine Slimak
Organizer
Bokeelia, FL
Melissa Waters
Beneficiary