Flexing My Gratitude Muscle

This post is a gratitude post.

From my oncology family and on my fridge

Back in April 2018, my friend organized a few fundraisers for me. The one on GoFundMe is still active, but I want to talk specifically about the local one she hosted at our local YMCA (where I also work).

I live in a community that has been in the news for being the most giving town in the United States. The people in my town are in reality so very kind. People I didn't even know came to my fundraiser, and were so generous that my husband and I were able to pay for our medical bills (at the time... we have more bills now, of course), and I am still very grateful for the fundraiser and for the generosity of the community.

Soon afterward, my sister organized another fundraiser for me. I traveled to my sister's town and was able to attend a very well organized musical production. Again, many people I didn't know were so very generous, and we were able to pay for more medical bills.

It seems that every time we start to feel our budget closing in, Christian Healthcare Ministries sends us a check to help with our medical bills as well. You see, we don't have insurance. It's too expensive, and we have found it's cheaper to just be a self-pay patient. Do medical costs still cost us a lot of money? Yes, however the discounts we have seen have been eye-opening.

Our budget is getting tighter yet again, so I am hoping and praying for another check to come soon. That's the hard part of being a member of a healthshare--you don't know if or when you'll get a check.

We've paid and still have bills that exceed our income, and we may be paying them off well into the future as I still fight this stage four monster, but we are very grateful for the generosity of family, friends, and strangers. I am especially grateful to the family, friends, and strangers who continue to serve my family by visiting me and giving my children rides to their various activities so they're able to keep life as "normal" as possible. I'm also grateful for those who donate on a regular basis--knowing we are struggling and (honestly) embarrassed that we need it so badly.

My husband and I are very good at our budget (heard of Dave Ramsey or YNAB? We love both), and so we allocate every penny donated to us to our medical category--because we know that's where it is intended.

I know this season in our life is a hard one (especially with blood clot number four and a pulmonary embolism on top of it just two weeks ago for me on top of all this cancer crap), and therefore am able to ask for help since I and my family do need it, but I look forward to the day when I can do the same or more for someone else--since that is the reason I have this or any trial in my life: to help someone else through it.



What or who are you grateful for?