Hello, my name is Anna. As some of you may know, Addam and I were dealt a pretty heavy hand back in October, and I'm setting up this page for him — because he would never ask for something this big on his own.

If you know Addam, you know he's the one who shows up for everyone else. He's the person who feeds a room full of people and never asks for anything in return. He's stubborn in the best ways, steady when things get hard, and far more comfortable being the one who gives help than the one who receives it. Watching him face these past couple months has shown me a kind of quiet strength I didn't know a person could have.

So I'm doing the part he can't bring himself to do. I'm asking, on his behalf, for our community to help carry something that has become too heavy for the two of us to carry alone.

In October 2025, Addam was diagnosed with stage IV GIST, a rare type of sarcoma made even rarer by his specific subtype, SDHA-deficient GIST. Only a small fraction of an already uncommon patient population shares this diagnosis, and that rarity has shaped every step of his care since.

Because the disease is so rare, treating it well has meant building a team of specialists across the country. Addam began treatment in San Francisco and now has consulting physicians at UCSF, OHSU, and the National Institutes of Health collaborating on his case. That level of expertise is a real reason for hope. It's part of what's getting him to the next chapter.

The hard part: none of these consults, past or future, are covered by his insurance. Neither is the surgery, the hospital stay, or the recovery. Addam worked through treatment as long as he could, but by December 2025 the physical side effects made that impossible, and he had to step away from his job.

This June, Addam and I will travel across the country for surgery as the next major step forward. The procedure is significant: a 12 to 18 hour operation, likely split across two days, involving a large open abdominal incision and partial resection of both his stomach and liver. Recovery in the hospital will take about two weeks, and I'll be by his side throughout.

It's a lot, but it's also a path forward — with a skilled surgical team, a coordinated group of specialists behind it, and a real chance at more time and more life on the other side. That's what we're holding onto.

Our goal is to raise $100,000. It's a large number, and we don't ask for it lightly. It reflects the reality of what we're facing. Uncovered specialty care, a major cross-country surgery, and the months of recovery that follow. Every contribution moves us closer to the other side of this.

If you're able to give, thank you. If sharing this page is what you can offer, that matters just as much. From the bottom of my heart thank you for showing up for Addam, and for us.

— Anna