It has come to my attention that their are people out there who have question our morals regarding our situation. That think its their position to speak about our financial position when they themselves dont know nor have asked us. A friend is some one who goes out of their way to help others not put them down or speak poorly about them. This is why I write this message. My family and I are very thankful for all the donations (To date $55,000. raised not including the gala and the tournament) and to my husband work for paying him a 40 hour week wage to help us fight this battle. His job is not a secure one because of our situation. We are only a 1 income household. To give you an idea of what it has been like for us over the last 4 months here it is. We have made about 9 trips back and forth to Edmonton and a trip to Calgary. All driving except one which we flew. Every day that we spend at the hospital, my husband or I had to drive a 1 hour back and forth from the hospital to switch out, the time spent at the hospital with Lauren. Plus parking which is about $80.00 a month Then their is our food. Every day that we spend not at home we have to eat. Your guess is as good as mine as to the amount that cost over 4 months. PS cafeteria food sucks. Not to mention that we have children that we have had to leave at home. My in-laws have moved to our home from Cranbrook to stay and watch over our other children. Which they are not being paid for. We leave them with money to spend on groceries and incidentals while we are away. We have our regular house bills. Mortgage, power, gas, electric, cable, phone. not to mention maintenance that we have to pay for. Example, while away from home in Edmonton, there was a power surge at home. It killed our furnace, a TV and our washing machine. So our home went without a furnace and washer so almost 5 weeks. When we got home we purchased the cheapest washer we could find at the Brick tent sale and had a furnace repair man to come in to look at the furnace. We had to replace the control board. We never replace the TV. Most recently the roof in our daughter bedroom began to leak which we havent repaired yet. All other items which we had intended to do this summer we put aside so that money could go to the cause. We had to change our carpet because of germ concerns which in the removal process we found mold. Now to Lauren medicine and supplies. We have some Blue Cross coverage but it doesnt include everything. Her supplies to take care of her central line need to be refilled regularly. As well as her medicine and injection which she has daily. Which add up to a couple hundred a month. Oh I didnt mention that when we are at home Lauren has twice a week check ups and blood work at the Cancer clinic. Since Lauren has gotten sick, this has been the hardest struggle of our life. You may see us and think oh they are doing pretty good. but you have know idea what a single day has been like. We put on a smile to make our childrens day happier and to share love not the emotional heart break that we go through. Every stay at the hospital we get more and sometime different information that change the length of treatment. Truly I tell you that we dont have an end date of how long this treatment will take. We can only deal with what is happening right here and now. To further elaborate on our fundraising goal. We do not expect anyone to helps us. If you, yourself can not afford to please dont. We have not asked any person particularly to help us. It has only been through the kindness of others that all the fundraising has been done and because so many people wanted to help us. Fundraising is the way people know how to help. The question that we dont have an answer to is whether after treatment if her cancer will go into remission, return or a new cancer forms which we will have to fight, not only that but the possibility of a weaken heart, hearing loss or mobility issues caused by her chemo treatments. All in all our bills have doubled what they would normally be. Jeff, my family and I havent even taken any of the money for ourselves or for our family to spend on ourselves. Our hope for Christmas is to be home but we may have to spend it in hospital. So please tell me that this is what you think any family should have to go through. Or that you want us to feel guilty or a shamed of what we have done with the funds to date. If any one questions us please by all means pm me and ask. We have not hide anything from any one. Shame on you na sayers. To all the people that have truly supported us, Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and rest assure that all the funds donate are being used to help us with difficult situation as well as any additional funds will be donated by us to a worthy cause in Fort McMurray. Sincerely, Jeff and Leneah Stemmann
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 21:07:43 +0000
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