Three years ago, Andrea Sjoblom’s sister died suddenly from an aortic aneurysm at the age of twenty six, leaving two young children behind. Andrea and her husband Joe took their niece and nephew into their home with their own two children, hoping to provide a loving, stable environment for them after the trauma of losing their mother.
All was well until last April, when Andrea was diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer. After receiving a double mastectomy and undergoing chemo, she began the healing process and even returned to work part time. The family held together through the stress of her diagnosis and treatment, and finally started to breathe a sigh of relief last spring…
Yet their cancer journey was not over. They would have to face more adversity in the form of a new diagnosis for Joe: non-Hodgkins lymphoma large B cell, an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer. Not only was this a devastating medical blow to the family, but a financial one as well. Joe’s income was the main support for the family of six.
“This has been very difficult and stressful for all four of our children!” said Andrea. “As an adult, it’s difficult to wrap your head around all this mind-bending chaos; I can’t imagine having to be a child/young teen facing so much tragedy so early on.”
New Day has stepped in to cover mortgage and car payments for the family as they struggle to heal. Joe is expected to make a full recovery, but it will be an extremely difficult course of treatment. The Sjoblom children are 13, 12, 8 and 4 years old, and the couple are working to finalize the adoption of the two youngest.
“Please pray for our family as we continue yet another crazy journey,” Andrea added. “We are completely blessed to have such an amazing support group, we know we are definitely not walking this fight alone, and are appreciative to everybody who is standing beside us.”
“We appreciate (the help of New Day) more than words can say,” Joe added.