This past Summer my husband Matt started having some back pain. We chalked it up to his many jobs where he does a lot of manual labor. Eventually the pain got worse, keeping him up at night and sitting around a lot more often, which is very unlike my husband. He does nothing but work several jobs inside and outside our home to provide for the family. I finally convinced him to see a doctor, who told him it was just muscle pain and referred him to physical therapy. He was in therapy for about 2 months and the pain was just getting worse. At one point he even went to the Emergency Room, which did an Xray and told him the same thing. It was just “muscle pain”. They sent him home with pain meds and continued physical therapy. Going to work everyday was a continual challenge, but he mustered through it…because he had to, for us. He was in such agony, we finally called his doctor and demanded more tests be run because something wasn’t right. He has lost around 30 pounds at this point as well. The doctor finally ordered a CT Scan and noticed a very large mass in his abdomen. He was told it was most likely Renal Cancer and sent us to a Cancer specialist. We were terrified! We have a 5 year old and 11 year old at home. Matt is only 43 years old. How could this be? Every visit we went to we got worse and worse news. Finally, after several months of visiting several specialists and running what seemed like endless testing, we got a final diagnosis. It is an extremely rare De-differentiated Liposarcoma and not Renal Cancer. To make it worse, the Tumor is wrapped around a major vessel in his body making it very dangerous and inoperable. The devasting news just kept coming. Our only course of treatment at this point is some extremely heavy Chemotherapy as an inpatient in the hospital in the hopes of shrinking the Tumor in order to keep him comfortable. This means he has to step away from his jobs to focus on his health. He willbe in the hospital off and on for at least the next 6 months. Staying a week in the Hospital for treatment, then coming home for 14 days, then back to the hospital for another round…for a total of 6 cycles. In the meantime, I’m having to figure out how to shuffle the kids around to be able take care of them and also be there for Matt in the hospital. He only has 12 paid days left to use at his work before we must figure out other options. The medical bills alone are adding up and I am left to figuring out how I am going to take care of my 2 children on only my Salary and also face the possibility of loosing health insurance if Matt cannot return to work. More importantly, I faced with the very real possibility that Matt will not be there to see our kid’s major milestones. He may not see our kids graduate or get married or have kids. He may not be there for Holidays or Birthdays.  My 5 year old daughter, Gianna, just started Kindergarten and she hasn’t gotten the chance for Daddy to even see her in a school concert. We are a strong family and we will get through this and I will do everything in my power to help not only Matt feel comfortable and loved, but also to make sure my kids are well supported to the best of my ability. I also believe God has a plan for our family and will guide us on our way.