Charlie Schmidt calls himself the anomaly. He did not have any stomach pain, did not have any notable stomach issues. But he’s very thankful for his wife, who was persistent in asking him to get his colonoscopy after he turned 50. Luckily she did, because that persistence most likely saved his life.
Charlie remembers waking up in the hospital after the procedure and seeing the look on his wife’s face. Soon he received the news as well – doctors said they had found something. He called it the longest ride home of his life. The next step was surgery, where doctors took 27 lymph nodes from around the area. One tested positive, which brought Charlie to stage three colon cancer. He started chemotherapy, receiving it every three weeks for four cycles. And it was during this time that the financial pinch of a cancer diagnosis started to show up for Charles and his family.
“There is a financial burden with the medication,” Charlie remembered. “And a lot of it was my wife missing work. We have two children, so if I’m not available then she would have to miss work to do the things that I would do to help the children. She lost time that she wasn’t getting paid for. And those were the big struggles that we had.”
Charlie himself was out of work for three weeks as well, some of it also unpaid time. It all adds together, and resources got tight.
It was during the time Charlie was receiving his chemo treatments that he was informed about Joe Andruzzi Foundation (JAF) and how they might be able to help. He was somewhat resistant at first, calling it a bit of pride on his end. But he is extremely grateful for the help of the hospital staff for bringing the organization to his attention.
“They said this is the situation that you’re in right now. This organization is here to help. And it tremendously did. At a time when we were struggling, when we’re like, okay, where’s the grocery money going to come from? The gift card arrived just in time.”
Charlie and his family received gift cards for food through the Foundation’s Food Security Program. It helped fill some of the gaps during a challenging time in his family’s life.
“JAF wants to help. At the end of the day, the Foundation put their money where their mouth was. And it’s not just people who have colon cancer, it’s the whole cancer bucket. I consider myself lucky and more fortunate than others to be in the position I am right now. But to know what JAF does is tremendous.”
One notable piece that stood out for Charlie was how seamless the application process was, and how little was asked of the patient.
“I really did nothing. The social worker took care of it. They brought the social worker in and we had the conversation, then she processed the application. I would say it was maybe a month turnaround… It came as a great surprise, and like I said, it was at the right moment that it came because that’s when we needed it the most.”
After completing treatments, Charlie currently has no physical evidence of cancer. If after five years that still remains the case, he will be considered cancer-free. He considers himself lucky. But he still faced the burden that comes to families with this diagnosis, and is appreciative of what JAF was able to do to help.
“JAF has the people that want to help, that want to do things to help and make people’s lives a little bit easier like they did for my wife, myself, and my children.”
