In February, Lee started having struggles with moving his right side. In true Lee Hemer fashion, 2 weeks went by before symptoms became unbearable. He underwent an MRI which showed a mass on his spine. He was immediately transported to the University of Iowa, where he underwent surgery for the mass to be taken off. They successfully removed majority of this. They took many pictures and found Lee also had a nodule in his lung. When biopsies from the surgery returned, they diagnosed Lee with metastatic adenocarcinoma that started in the lung, meaning he had cancer.

Both Lee and Karen have been at the U of I for 3 weeks now, and Karen has been staying in a hotel. Plans are being made to transport Lee to Mary Greeley hospital for intense physical therapy next.

This news has been extremely difficult and stressful for the entire family. One way to lessen the burden would be to help support financially.

The Hemer Family