Austin husband with stage IV lung cancer goes through savings | Season for Caring
For most of his adult life, Charles Richard, 50, dreamed of having his own screen-printing studio. A business where he could set his own hours and work for his own till.
He invested parts of his paycheck towards various screen-printing machines, converted his garage into a studio, found small accounts, designed logos on his computer and produced client orders at night when he came home from his day job as a tow truck operator.
He built towards the dream even though the past four years had been tough. He and his wife, Nicole Richard, moved to Austin shortly before the onset of the 2020 pandemic to take care of her father, who was dying from kidney cancer. They wanted to help, and they knew they could. Nicole, 52, a licensed practical nurse, could take care of her father, and Charles’ work as tow truck driver could provide enough to keep the couple financially solvent.
This June, however, the couple’s ability to support others and build toward their own dreams was punctured when doctors diagnosed Charles Richard with stage IV lung cancer.
“Have you ever heard that tug in your heart? … It’s like when you get real scared. You feel a loud bang, and it goes from your chest to your stomach,” Charles Richard said when he recalled his reaction to his diagnosis. “It felt like that.”
For most of June, Charles couldn’t walk. The joint and bone pain from the tumor's releases kept him immobile. He left the hospital in a wheelchair and gradually moved to a walker. He has since undergone three chemotherapy treatments in four months. After the third time, he had lost 55 pounds because he “didn’t eat for eight days.” The extreme nausea, the stomach cramps and the prevailing taste of chemicals that covered his tongue made eating excruciating.
He has tried to keep to his three-weeks-on, three-weeks-off chemotherapy regimen his doctors recommended, though Charles found he needed a longer break between some of the sessions to build enough strength to return to the hospital.
“I’m not going to kill myself to live,” he said.
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Charles is the first to admit to his mistakes. He began to smoke at 14 and continued until "about 10 years ago." After he quit cigarettes, he took up vaping believing it was a healthier alternative.
The months since the diagnosis have been difficult. With another loved one to care for, Nicole Richard has remained at home. More and more, Charles requires help for such day-to-day activities as bathing, using the restroom, preparing meals and monitoring his vital signs. He wants Nicole to be his caregiver.
With Charles too weak to work and Nicole committed to providing him care, the Richards have gone without income since May and wiped through their savings, including what they had made on their Spokane house, where they lived together during their last 15 years in Washington. The couple has sold their car to keep up with payments. Family and friends have chipped in what they could. They have begun to receive federal disability payments, which help but aren’t enough.
The two encourage each other into an optimism. Nicole Richard hopes that they can piece together the money so that she can be the one to take care of him through his treatments. Charles Richard holds to the idea that he will be able to recover enough strength to dedicate some energy to his screen-printing shop so that he can provide for some of the costs ahead. He is looking for equipment that requires less arduous labor than what he currently has.
Both look for the opportunity to find joy in the time they have left together. They hope Season for Caring can free enough of the financial stress.
“It will help us stay in this house and not stress out about money,” Nicole said. “And we can focus on being with each other.”
“Now, that counts the most,” Charles added.
The Richard family’s wishes:
Rental assistance; help with utilities, car payments and car insurance; Walmart and H-E-B gift cards for groceries, gas and medications; help paying off credit card debt; legal help to explore bankruptcy options; cremation services; Ulta gift card for Nicole to get her hair done; a juicer; employment training for Nicole, including help completing a résumé, online job hunting or an aesthetician training program; chiropractic services for Nicole’s back pain; dental care; Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for Charles’s screen-printing work; Amazon, Tomlinson’s or Petco gift cards for food for their two Chihuahuas; vet care for the Chihuahuas; sweatpants for Charles (size 34); Alamo Drafthouse gift card; garage door opener; and a "Direct to Film" printer with an oven for screen printing.
Their wish list is available on Amazon.
Nominated by: Austin Palliative Care, a subsidiary of Hospice Austin, 4107 Spicewood Springs Road, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78759. 512-397-3360, option 3, www.austinpalliativecare.org.
Its mission: Austin Palliative Care enhances the well‐being and quality of life of patients and families battling a life‐limiting illness.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Season for Caring: Austin man with cancer goes through savings for treatment
