My wife Sylv has cancer and cannot get insurance to cover chemo, so we have to pay out-of-pocket. She NEEDS chemo, and soon. The somewhat long story is explained below. Even if you canāt give, PLEASE reblog, simply liking the post doesnāt really help.
Sylv was born in Canada and came to the US in 1994, back when Canadiansdidnāt even need passports to come here and well before 9/11 complicated immigration. She came because she was offered a job speaking French for a company in Indianapolis that had won a contract in Eastern Canada, and they were going to handle her immigration paperwork. The business went under before any of that ever happened.
She spent what little she had to get here and was now stuck - being estranged from her family, she had no āhomeā to go back to. She lived with friends, providing daycare while they worked, and we met online in 1996. A year later we were married.
Being disabled myself, we never had much money since she couldnāt work and I had a hard time getting anyone to hire me. We were never able to file her immigration papers, and despite 18 years of marriage, she still has no legal status. Homeland Security knows sheās here and has no issues with it, but neither can she be giveen any benefits or even buy insurance. Without $2k AND a sponsor making over $50k a year willing to take responsibility for her, she canāt get citizenship.
Last December she was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. We can only get her Emergency Medicaid, which paid for the surgery necessary to remove a 15cm tumor and a full hysterectomy, but it wonāt cover chemotherapy, and without it the cancer has started to return and spread.
We have chemo lined up, but we need help raising the funds to pay for it. The treatment itself isnāt terribly expensive, but the booster shot that goes with it to keep her from getting sick and the PET scan needed to see if itās working are. Hereās the breakdown of the three main costs for every three weeks, which needs to be repeated for a total of six rounds:
Treatment: $414
Booster: $3800
PET scan: $1600
Total: $5814 a round
Thatās about $30k for the full six ronds.
There are additional costs, such as placing a port to put the chemo feed into, blood tests and such, that will crop up over time.
Some of this we MAY be able to get at low or no cost, but her citizenship status makes qualifying for most programs difficult.
Thatās just medical costs. We may also need additional aid care since Iām disabled and wonāt be able to care for her when sheās sick, and help covering food and bills when I canāt go draw caricatures on the Strip because I might bring a bug home when her immune system is compromised. These are real concerns and side-effects of dealing with the chemo.
This is about one thing only: saving my wifeās life. Every bit helps her to fight another day and beat this. With your help she can and will fight on.
FAQ:
Q> Why not just go back to Canada?
A> And live where? We would need to uproot and move somewhere, pay to rent a place, pay utility deposits, hire an in-home aid (as an American I wonāt get one in Canada) and go through all the process of getting her back in their system to be treated. I would not receive any Social Security there, either, reducing our income to zero. Treating her here is actually cheaper and easier, and most importantly, itās FASTER. She needs chemo sooner rather than later.
Q> Have you tried X foundation/program?
A> Probably! Still, feel free to offer suggestions and Iāll look into them. Just understand thereās avery good chance she wonāt qualify due to our unique situation.
Q> Are you doing anything else to try to pay for it?
A> Yes! Sylv and I are comic book creators, and weāre getting some friends in the industry to auction art to help raise funds. I also draw caricatures here in Vegas and am trying to set up a new Guiness Record for drawing by mouth and want to challenge the casinos to match whatever my attempt raises. Iām also obviously putting every spare dollar I make doing caricatures into treatment as well. I am NOT just asking strangers for spare cash.
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