I'm just a simple man who loves his wife. I have never asked for money before. It is humbling to ask for money in the face of copayments, deductibles, and costs of specialized cancer care after several months of unprecedented circumstances. 

My loving wife Dena, my rock of our foundation, have been married for more than 28 years and have enjoyed many things in life together as we have grown through the years. We have been empty-nesters for about 13 years now and have enjoyed our once a year anniversary trip to our favorite resort in Mexico. We have laughter, fun and a lot of adventures and look forward to many more years.

On April 8th 2023, we were having a wonderful Saturday, then suddenly we were involved in a car accident. Someone pulled out in front of us leaving no time to react. Dena was severely injured by the seat belt with blunt force trauma that caused internal bruises and injury all over her chest, abdomen, and head. Although the initial coverage of expenses has been covered by the other at fault driver, this has set off a whole new devastating chain of events.

After the initial ER visit April 10th 2023, Dena could not overcome the pain in her lower abdomen.  She was having trouble focusing on work because of the pain, and this began multiple visits back to various doctors to pinpoint the problem.  However the ER doctors were not able to find an answer and believed it was just soreness from the injuries that would eventually go away. The insurance of the driver was now refusing to pay these bills as they probably believed we were “milking” the situation.  We’ve now had to hire a lawyer to represent us but unfortunately this also eats into the money we hope to recover from this situation. 

The horrible journey doesn't end there.  After my wife’s continued pain, and no resolution from ER doctors, we scheduled an appointment with an urologist on May 1st 2023 due to the presence of blood in her urine.  By chance the ER had done a CT scan of the full abdomen, but the ER doctors did not detect anything critical. This full CT scan would not normally be done in a routine situation. However, armed with that CT scan, the urologist immediately detected something blurry in the bladder.  That blur was a tumor that was bleeding from the accident.  After more visits and surgery on May 16th 2023 to remove the tumor, we found out on May 25th 2023 that the tumor was cancerous and had penetrated into the muscle of the bladder.  This type of cancer is an aggressive form of cancer that affects mostly men but 1 in 4 are women.  It was probably present for close to a year and is now in Stage 2.  On May 26th 2023 we entered into Oncology and she is now undergoing aggressive chemotherapy to hopefully reduce the cancer. If any good can be obtained from this car accident is that it helped find the cancer before it was too late.

Dena has a long uncertain road ahead.  Just the initial chemotherapy, then bladder removal surgery scheduled for September 2023 time frame, and recovery will take a minimum of 6-12 months.  During this time she will definitely not be able to work and has had to resign from her employer. Also, after the initial chemo and surgery, there is time involved to get comfortable with this life changing, body changing event.  It will take many years to get used to this, both physically and emotionally.  Also, there is the possibility the cancer could recur and will also require frequent monitoring. 

Dena is a genuine, sincere, honest, loving, and a lovely person, wife & mom currently stuck in a situation not of her own making. The looming prospect of cancer treatments, bladder removal surgery, and a lifetime of altered life with no bladder has put us in this devastating emotional and financial situation. She and I will be grateful for any assistance. Her goal is to be healthy enough to be able to go back to work next year for the few remaining years before we retire. Our retirement was long-planned for July 2027. However, medical expenses, Dena’s resignation, and my missed work are wearing down huge amounts of retirement funds.

In closing, Our son Preston and I are focused on Dena beating this awful cancer and making a spectacular recovery. The money will be used for Dena’s medical expenses this year and next year and compensate for some of her lost wages. Your help and prayers will be greatly appreciated.