In April 2025, our brother Bert, a father of seven, was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer called Pulmonary Artery Sarcoma. The mass was on his upper lung wall and putting pressure against his pulmonary artery, which was causing him to cough up blood and have some difficulty breathing. After several days in the hospital, they were able to stop the bleeding with medication, and he was sent home.

In 4 months time, after radiation and painful chemotherapy treatments, his breathing was getting progressively worse, and he spent a few more days in the hospital getting breathing treatments before being sent home with 2 oxygen tanks, a large one and a smaller portable one.

The following week, his test results showed the cancer was gone and it was in remission!

Yet he still could not breathe on his own and had trouble even walking into the office, so not surprising, he was not feeling very cheerful. They ran more tests, and that same week he was diagnosed with Chemical Pneumonitis, which was caused by the very same chemotherapy medication that had just wiped out the cancer mass, resulting in a worse condition than when he started chemo.

He just spent another week in the hospital on heavy steroids and was given daily breathing treatments. Two nights ago, Monday, Aug 25th, he was breathing a slight bit better, holding his stats most of the day, and he was discharged and sent home after tapering off the steroids to an oral dose of prednisone. Though he is still on oxygen and unable to walk across a room, even brushing his teeth literally takes his breath away. His oncologist says it could take a few more weeks or months before he will breathe on his own again, and the other doctor in the hospital said he may be on oxygen for the rest of his life.

We are all completely shattered by this turn of events and have not been truly able to celebrate his cancer going into remission.

Our brother is a good person, a devoted and loving father and grandfather. Not one to ask for help, but never hesitates to offer his help to anyone. It is only now during this dire situation that he has finally agreed to let us start the GoFundMe page for him.

His eldest son Michael lives with him, and they share the mortgage. Since Bert has not been able to work these past few months, Michael has been carrying the heavy responsibility of trying to keep the house afloat, paying the mortgage as well as driving his dad to appointments, and being there for his dad when he gets home from a long day's work.

Included in the list of what the funding will go toward, besides the mortgage and other essentials, are home repair, maintenance, and small improvements that are in desperate need to prepare the home to be put on the market as they cannot continue paying the mortgage.

During the pandemic, their landlord, whom they had been renting from for 10 years, passed away suddenly, and the new owners gave them the option of buying the home they had been renting or moving out and gave them 60 days to decide. This was during the housing crisis of 2022, and there were no affordable rentals or smaller affordable homes for sale, so with a third person, they were able to qualify to purchase the home they had been renting at triple the monthly payments they were previously paying. A year later, the third person moved out, and they have been struggling to pay the mortgage since then, and shortly after, Bert became ill.

Their hope all along has been to make small necessary improvements so they can sell the home and move into a more reasonable living situation financially. All of which has had to be put on hold during Bert's health crisis.

The financial strain has become unbearable, and the entire ordeal has been emotionally and physically draining on them and the family.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this, and now we humbly ask if you are able to help by making a contribution, big or small, or perhaps not at all as we understand if you are unable to at this time.

Sharing with others will really help our cause.

We also appreciate your words of encouragement and continuous hopes and prayers.

With much gratitude, we thank you .

All funding will go directly to Bert and will go towards the following:

* His share of the mortgage and essential utilities

* Medical expenses, including the possible need for mobility equipment not covered by insurance

* Maintenance and small improvements to put the home on the market

* Backup generator for the oxygen tank in case of electricity outages (which are common during the coming months during heavy winds)

Thank you again,

Bert's sisters Elsa and Maria and all of Bert's family