June 11th 2025 our life just crumbled. My wife Hillary was giving our daughter a bath when she noticed it. Her eye had a Grey haze or patch almost like a cataract or something. She texted me right away and told me I was as work. So we covered her eye found out she had no sight so we went straight to the emergency room. There she was diagnosed with retinoblastoma a rare eye cancer that only 200 to 300 new cases a year. From there right away they were calling all the cancer centers and no one would take us because they couldn’t treat her. Finally Bascom Palmer in Miami took her. That night we packed a bag and I took my daughter down to Bascom palmer in Miami from Melbourne. The next morning we met with the surgeon and the very next day Friday the 13th she was having her eye removed. The tumor took up 80 percent of her eye and she would never have her vision back. There are 5 cases of retinoblastoma in Brevard county all of them are non hereditary statistically that’s almost impossible. I asked Rosie why she didn’t tell me or her mom she couldn’t see. She said she didn’t want to be made fun of at school. She’s only 5. This whole time she passed tests she shouldn’t have passed at Brevard health alliance her primary and they assured us her head aches were allergies she just seen an allergenics, she’s not allergic to anything. This all happened so fast its almost unreal. I feel so guilty making this but I don’t know what else to do. Rosie has since then had an MRI that came back clear with no spreading and her blood work came back clear. They said it contained itself in the eye. My wife is a disabled veteran I have a handyman business. When all this happened I didn’t know what was coming what to think or what to do I have home owners scheduled I had jobs to do. I passed a lot of the work on to a friend with a business and great references but now here we are I’m trying my hardest to get back to where I was I just started my business this year and it was really starting to take off then when this happened I love my vendor position with the rental companies and like I mention passed all my scheduled work along. Since then we’ve been struggling bad. And now just when were almost out of the woods my truck started running horribly I have clogged catalytic converters and something else wrong. I can barley catch up on the payments and my mortgage let alone fix it. My job is starting to pick back up. Rosie is cancer free as of right now but still has oncology appointments regularly and MRI’s every six months. But right now me and my family could really use the help catching up. I have a 17 year old 2, 10 year old’s and a 5 year old and this hasn’t been an easy road but were almost pulled all the way through it. This is really killing me making this but I don’t know what else to do and I don’t want to get behind anymore than I already am. I feel so guilty and like a horrible person doing this but I don’t know what else to do anything helps it really does.
Thank you from me and my family from the bottom of our hearts.