January 2026 Update

Hey friends. Ben, here. I’m going to take a stab at sending out the latest update, but first I’d like to share my heart with the many of you who have followed our story.

The words “thank you” don’t seem to hit with the potency they should. So many people have shown up for Lindsey, our girls, and myself over these last two years. I wanted to have the perfect phrasing when it comes to conveying my gratitude for the love that was poured out on us. However, there is no perfect way to say it, so I’m just going to say it with tears in my eyes behind the keyboard. We feel loved. Thank you so much for loving us so intensely. I don’t know how we would have made it thus far without the support of so many of you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Now friends, here’s the latest. Lindsey has spent the better part of this last year rebuilding her body and immune system after the rigorous chemotherapy tore it down. Her hair has grown back quite a bit and it’s beautiful! She has always had straight hair, but it wanted to come back curly and “Ronald McDonald-esque.” That’s the loving nickname I gave her, anyway. Call her “Ronald” sometime, see what happens. I think I’m the only one who can get away with it. 😊

Several scans have come and gone each quarter. These scans come with their own set of worries, since the highest probability of anything returning is within the first two years. We had the most recent scan in mid-November. There was a particularly high level of anxiety surrounding this scan for some reason. After the “routine” (I have come to loathe that word) CT scan, we were relieved once again to hear of a clear scan. The next thing on the list was the annual bone scan. We pushed to have this moved up before the end of the year because of, well...insurance. I’m very grateful for insurance but man, insurance companies have way too much control over how Dr’s (the ones who go to school and get the actual training) get to do their job and individually treat their patients. I started to step up on my soapbox right there. Sorry, very sorry. I’ll quickly step down and stay on point. To the bone scan…

The bone scan. Friends, it did not come back clean. I have to pause because this is heavy and hard. The emotions of receiving this news for the first time flood back all over again.

A new bone lesion was found on her left humerus near her shoulder joint. This was not just a small lesion, but a nearly nine cm long growth. A nine cm growth does not happen to grow that large in between two, 3-month scans. This was missed and I’m frustrated. The position Lindsey’s arms are in during a “routine” (there’s that word again) CT scan does not allow the imaging to capture the portion of her arm where this growth was forming. This lesion was actually larger than the original one found in her right femur when this all began. Again, I’m frustrated this was missed. The next step was a biopsy to confirm what the arm lesion was. The biopsy confirmed yes, it had come back.

Lindsey fought hard to have a PET scan now since this new growth was missed. To say the anxiety went through the roof would be an understatement. We got in for a PET scan on December 19^th to find more difficult news. There was a new growth back on her right femur, where the original journey began. This is now a metastatic cancer and the hard facts of this are Lindsey’s survivability chances have gone down.

When you’re overloaded with hard and stressful things, you have to let your emotions out. God divinely created us with those emotions. We are unique in His creation in that we have an ability to feel. Right now, I can tell you I’m feeling every single emotion He gave me. Our girls are feeling just as heavy. We brought them into the middle with all of the information, and the devastation is felt even harder this time.

I stop to share this emotional vulnerability with you because often times people might skip over it in an attempt to “stay positive.” Trust me, the “hope” part of this update is coming in a moment. I want to be human for a second and help you understand that if you were to sit in the muck with me/us for a moment and grieve, it would be more helpful than you know. Friends, I absolutely know God’s timing and plan are perfect. It most certainly doesn’t make going through His plan easy though. Suffering isn’t supposed to be easy. Not in 1,000 lifetimes would I ever walk away from my Father or doubt Him. What would life be without the hope we have in Him?! I have so much comfort in that even in the middle of suffering, and that is not a cliché. I really mean that. Having people sit with you in hard things can offer an incredible amount of warmth in a moment of bitter cold. Now, to the “hope” part. I like this part.

So what’s next now? Things always move quickly at this stage. We need to get this tumor out of Lindsey and quickly. She has a surgery scheduled for January 13^th. This is going to be a reverse shoulder replacement arthroplasty. Since the tumor is so close to her shoulder joint, it’s going to require a full joint replacement. The treatment plan after the surgery has options, and we like options. Since the cancer came back and spread, the chemotherapy Lindsey went through essentially failed and isn’t an option moving forward. We are grateful this is not an option because anyone who has undergone chemo can attest to how difficult it can be. Immunotherapy is the next potential option if we continue care in the state of Iowa. Yes, we have researched some other treatments out of state. These types of therapies aren’t in the conventional standard of care and are most certainly not covered by insurance. Some of the clinics we have researched have incredible success with the way they treat cancer and are not bound by what insurance does or does not allow. We need to figure out the financial piece of this because this is no small amount of money out of pocket. This is even beyond a “sell your house to come up with the money” type of situation. However, money is a laughable problem to the One who owns it all. I can share more on that aspect as we unravel it. We are in the beginning stages of learning about a potential financial option for this. More hope.

This update is necessary and challenging for sure. Please stay near to us for those who can. We have already received lots of encouragement and love as we slowly spread the information out. We will follow as we are led. We love you. Please continue to pray for my sweet Lindsey, in Jesus name. For those who feel called to support us through meals or financial gifts, you can find ways to do that below. God Bless!