TEAM RALPH

Ralph Stinebaugh was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, also known as ALL. He is currently receiving treatment at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University. It is a long and grueling treatment of chemotherapy and eventually a bone marrow transplant. 

Ralph's Story

I've been a Sales Rep in the housing industry since 1988. In 2001 after 9/11 hit, the Michigan economy started plunging into a deep recession. Michigan, being tied heavily to the auto industry, has long been known as the first state into the recession and the last one out. Honestly, for MI, this go around it was not a recession, but a depression. 

By 2007, I was let go by the housing company I worked for in Bay City, MI because they simply could not support an outside salesman any longer. I could recruit builders, but they could not sell houses. So, I was in a perfect storm, losing my job to a housing crash, and at the same time, my house was quickly under water. We spent 3 years trying to sell the house but eventually, it lead us into a short sale with our bank and we lost all of our savings we had put into the house. I'm in no way whining about this, these are just the facts and we were in the same boat as millions of other people in MI, at the time.

I finally received a little luck when an associate I had worked for previously, hired me to move to Mississippi to be his advanced Marketing Manager to another housing company he was launching with a large non profit. With no other job prospects Shelley and I packed up, left MI and our three grown children, which was the hardest thing we ever had to do, and headed to Hattiesburg, MS. 

We could not qualify for a mortgage, but fortunately my real estate background enabled us to negotiate purchasing a modest house by putting together a land contract offer. We thought we were on our way to rebuilding financial stability once again. Shockingly, after paying me for one year to recruit for and promote the company, I received the news the company had lost its bank financing and was never going to open. So, Shelley and I were stranded in MS with the same challenge, sell a house in a soft housing market. After 1.5 years we were able to finally sell the house and we lived in MS another 1.5 years, in an RV, job searching with no luck.

Eventually, we made the decision to move back to our hometown, to look for work and be caretakers for Shelley's Father, a widower of 5 yrs. Two months before our planned return home, I fell ill. In December I had caught cold and it never really went away. By the end of March, I couldn't even walk a quarter of a mile without stopping to rest 4 times. I was extremely short of breath. I was also getting infections from silly things like spider bites and little cuts causing my face to swell. My sister Tina and my brother in law Joe were visiting at the time and helped convince me to go to the doctor. I spent three nights in a hospital in MS where they stabilized my condition enough to transfer me to The Ohio State Medical Center Cancer Ward. On March 24th, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. While I was in the hospital, Shelley, Tina and Joe, packed us up and got ready to move back up to Ohio with 2 cats, a dog and a RV. We honestly couldn't have done it without the help of Tina and Joe.

ALL is a very serious blood cancer that is treatable, but is a long expensive ordeal, taking up to a year to reach remission. I am weeks into a lifelong challenge. The last stage of this initial treatment involves a bone marrow transplant. When I reach remission I'll be followed weekly as an outpatient for the rest of my life. To add to the stress we are going thru is being unemployed the past three years with no health insurance. The financial stress is as daunting as the illness I am fighting. Honestly, it bothers me even more because it makes me so sad to see Shelley going thru it with me, every day of every week.

At the urging and encouragement of friends and family we have decided to pursue this fund raiser to earn some funds to help with this challenge. It is, I admit, a time when you have to check your pride at the door and lean on friends and family for help so you can fight the fight and get back on your feet. I will beat this, we have too much love in our circle of family and friends not to. With this spirit, we are starting our fund raising campaign. We have no huge expectations, we know things are tough for everyone, but if enough friends and friends of friends give a token, we hope to have some money to pay medical bills in the coming year. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart