Hello, I want to start by thanking you for your time and consideration. I can’t express enough how much we appreciate any assistance you may be able to offer. This is the Anthony story. We are a family of four: Me (Mike) my lovely wife Zoe and our 2 boys; Eli who is 8 and Zeke who is 3. We have been married over 12 years and we live in the Silicon Valley. I am a machinist at a small job shop. My beautiful bride, Zoe, is a full time mom and home-school teacher to our boys. Well that was until October 30th, the day that rocked our world. Let me tell you about October 30th. My son Zeke (3) had a cough that we didn't like. Zoe wasn't feeling well so I took him to the emergency room and found out he had pneumonia. While I was with my son in the ER Zoe called to tell me she was bleeding when she went to the bathroom and it was a lot so she was on her way to the ER. This was convenient as I was already there but needless to say stressful. I/we didn't think it would be anything serious. Who thinks a vibrant 35 years old has something life threatening lurking. We thought it was probably an intestinal agitation of some sort because we had just switched to a gluten free diet. A few weeks earlier I had been diagnosed with Celiac disease. The summary of this is that gluten was destroying the villi in my small intestine and my body Isn't able to absorb nutrients properly. So much for me, back to my beautiful bride, she was admitted to the hospital and needed several transfusions. With some testing they discovered a 2 inch rectal tumor. She spent 3 days in the hospital. Thankfully we have Kaiser Insurance. However, because the shop is a small one my deductibles and co-pays are very high. One day in the hospital costs over $400 out of pocket. Between her hospital stay, tests, and medications, our out of pocket cost for just those few days alone was well over $2000. My sweet Zoe had to go through many more tests. She handled each and every one like a trooper. I am so proud of her. But I have this strange eye problem now...at the most inopportune or painful moments (for her) my eyes leak. She is so much braver and stronger than I am at times. She amazes me and I love her with all that I am. The boys and I are so blessed to have her in our lives. We found out after repeated visits for testing and biopsies that her cancer is stage 3 and it has spread to the lymph nodes, this was devastating news. We never expected to be dealing with this medical situation at our ages with two young boys to raise. The doctors preliminary game plan was that Zoe would go through 6 weeks of Chemo and radiation and then take a 6 week break. Depending on how the tumor responds to treatment she may have 1 or 2 surgeries. Because of the location of the tumor surgery is more difficult. The surgeries she will have to go through are similar to what are commonly referred to as a C section. For each surgery she will be in the hospital for a minimum of 5 days. After the tumor is removed she will have 8 weeks to recuperate and then she must start on a four and a half month regime of Chemo. It was a horrible storm of events, the last half of 2011, which devastated our savings. Between dentist bills, Kaiser, and having special diet needs it has been challenging. We had almost met our out of pocket maximum in December, but in January it started again. I have not been able to work as many hours as I normally do. We are just making our standard bills, barely. I am going to work between 1-3 AM so I can get off early and take my wife to her appointments. I now find myself in the role of Mister Mom, housekeeper, grocery shopper, etc. as the chemo makes her more ill. She has lost so much weight, 26 pounds. That may not sound like a lot. I could afford to lose 26 pounds, many of us can. However, my petite bride is only 5’3” and at last weigh-in was down to 96 pounds. It is very distressing. I will share, that even without the medical and dental expenses, we live fairly frugally w/basically cell phones and Internet as our only frills. What we need - help with our deductible. I am able to work enough to pay the bills but with only $400 in our account and a minimum of $3000 looming we are needless to say in a tough position. Again, Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely the Anthony family -------- I am Mike’s mom Terri and am adding a little to this so you can understand the dietary problems. There have been many offerings to bring food to help. However, my son cannot eat gluten. Zoe is lactose and aspartame intolerant. Their oldest boy Eli is allergic to soy and egg whites. The youngest boy Zeke is allergic to all dairy products. I cooked for Christmas and spent many hours at Whole Foods trying to find substitutes and alternatives. It can be done, but the choices are much more expensive than a normal Safeway shopping trip that we all tend to take for granted. I also appreciate your time and consideration.