Miracles in the Making: Grant Recipient Preston Welch

A Story from one of our recent grant recipients. We were able to help his family with their mortgage for one month... In his latest email to MMCCF wrote, "Thank you so much for all of your help and we really appreciate the assistance from the organization. Medical bills have been really overwhelming lately and knowing the mortgage will be paid next month has really given our family some hope of trying to juggle everything."

My name is Preston, I'm 31 and going through chemotherapy right now for colon cancer. I am married and have two young children (ages 2 and 8), as well as a cat and a dog. I appear healthy and young and had never had to worry about my health. For the past year, I had been experiencing symptoms of colon cancer but the symptoms were dismissed by doctors as IBS or hemorrhoids and a high fiber regimen was recommended. A few months ago, my GP referred me for a colonoscopy to see what was going on since my symptoms had never resolved and were becoming increasingly more worrisome. Throughout this process, everyone told me "You're too young, there's no way it's cancer." 

Unfortunately, it turns out that I had a 3" malignant tumor in my transverse colon, which was later diagnosed as mucinous adenocarcinoma. I was scheduled quickly for a CT/PET scan and surgery shortly after. Based on the size and scan results, they were estimating late Stage 3 or Stage 4. My surgery went fine and after being biopsied, my tumor was downgraded to an early Stage 2.  I  have been  receiving chemotherapy and will be receiving it for the next 6-8 months. It has been very difficult to manage the side effects of chemotherapy and remain full time at work in order to keep my insurance. 

The diagnosis of cancer was stressful enough as it was but the financial devastation has made things seem even more bleak.  I work full-time, but my small salary is mostly consumed by health insurance for my family. We have a high deductible insurance plan and then pay 20% after the deductible is met. This has meant that the medical costs have been several thousands of dollars, which we have been unable to afford to pay. We have been trying to juggle mortgage payments, car repair bills, childcare, and healthcare bills but there is not going to be a way to pay them all on our own.  

Preston's story is very similar to many of the stories of our grant recipients. We are grateful that we were able to give Preston and his young family a miracle this Thanksgiving Season!