Paul was diagnosed in 2022 with stage 4 cancer of the esophagus. He immediately had multiple surgeries and began battling the cancer with radiation and chemotherapy. Even with medical insurance, the medical bills piled up quickly with the high cost of cancer treatments, surgeries, and the many specialists involved. Paul continued to work until this past Fall when it became too hard to even work from home. Now living on just one income and the medical expenses not slowing down, it’s been an extremely stressful situation. Joy has searched high and low for resources to help cover some of the many costs, but there is no help to be found that they qualify for. Like many people have found themselves in these situations they have fallen in the crack between qualifying and actually being able to afford the high cost of medical care.
If you haven’t gone through this situation, it’s hard to understand the many costs that suddenly come up that nobody plans for. Their fur baby Kona needs to be kenneled while Joy is with Paul at the hospital, and that is $35 per day; parking at the hospital where Paul is currently is $20 per day, daily food costs for Joy, the gas that it takes to drive back and forth from Sedro Woolley to Seattle. The hospital fees that insurance doesn’t cover are the larger bills though that would be hard for anybody to find the means to cover on their own. It’s roughly $800 per day outside of what insurance covers while Paul is hospitalized at a Swedish hospital in Seattle. All of this is on Joy while still trying to maintain her job, and pay the mortgage, utility bills, car insurance, cell phone bill, and insurance premium.
I’m asking anybody who feels called to help to donate even a small amount to this amazing couple going through this extremely long and hard battle with Cancer.