Every story has a beginning, a starting point.
Ours began in late 2009 when my husband lost his job. You have to understand he was a workaholic. He worked 6 days a week for 10-12 hrs a day and he did it this way for 30 yrs.
So being without work wasnt new to him but going more than a week was.
The economy had hit the fan and we got caught up in the downhill spiral it had taken on. We had to apply for aid, which kicked us hard in the gut...pride was wrenched for sure. He looked and sent out hundreds of applications and I helped him with that as well as sending out my own. However, after being a sahm for several years no one wanted me despite my skills.
So this was the first blow to him. Then he thought he'd found a job in early 2010 and it fell through because the man only wanted Dan to help him get his emissions bay up and running and once Dan helped him through that...his promises of a job fell through. Another blow.
Then we were struggling to the point where we knew we'd have to give up our house. We rented it but it was a house and we loved it. So around April/May we let the landlady know we'd have to give it up come the first week of July.
I should say that in March Dan was given medical insurance through the VA since he was a vet and all. They did a physical which was standard to do for all new patients.
In April/May we got a letter that changed our world once again.
It said a shadow was found on his lungs and they needed to do more tests(MRI's and the like). He knew immediately that it was cancer and he was a goner. He'd seen too many loved ones receive the same letter and end the same way.
So he did the tests and sure enough it was cancer. However, it wasnt lung cancer...they found a bigger mass in his liver thanks to the MRI's and thats where the cancer was living. The lung shadows were sarcoidosis(sp?) which is tumors just not cancerous.
However, we didnt know what stage or more specifics til mid July(another joy as we were in the middle of moving our stuff into storage and moving into moms). Stage 4 non-defined small cell carcinoma, something like that. They decided chemo was the best bet because they didnt know where the cancer actually started so radiation wasnt going to work.
In the meantime, we didnt have a place to stay as we couldnt afford the house and were leaving. We didnt know what we were gonna do...my mother opened her home to us. She was a true angel. We were with her for a few weeks.
Then we found an organization that helped us get into a hotel for a month, so we could get chemo started and be close to the hospital instead of driving 2 hrs each way once a week, than they were able to put us into a small apartment where we paid a small amount of rent plus utilities and they paid the remaining rent. They also saw to it that our boys had happy holidays with sponsors getting them toys and whatnots.
We were truly blessed with all these wonderful people aiding us through this gut wrenching, pride kicking, aching soul time period. We can never pay back what was given to us but we can pay forward to the best of our abilities now that we are a bit back on our feet and that will be our lifelong goal...to pay forward whenever possible. Its something we want the boys to learn and live as well and enjoy doing!
Time to fight!
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