Barry Haynes' Leukemia Recovery

I've seen many of these GoFundMe pages--donated to quite a few--still, never did I think I'd have to make one for my dad, Barry Haynes. But, here we are. 

On Sunday, July 26th, Barry suffered a massive heart attack. This was preceded by a minor heart attack (which occurred on Thursday, July 23rd), so thankfully he was in the hospital when the massive one happened. He suffered relentless chest pains and shortness of breath until they could finally provide him emergency surgery to stent 2 of his arteries. The chest pains subsided, and he was able to rest, but something was still amiss. 

It's hard to call a massive heart attack a blessing in disguise, but that's exactly what it was. Through a routine blood workup in preparation for his surgery, the doctors discovered that Barry's blood platelet count was abnormally low, while his white cell count was abnormally high. After a bone marrow biopsy, it was confirmed--Barry has Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia  (APL).  As far as Leukemias go, this is thankfully one of the more treatable ones, but that is not to say it will be easy. Barry has several preexisting conditions (now including the stented arteries) which can generate many risky scenarios when coupled with the aggressive cancer treatments ahead. 

Barry has been checked intoMoffitt Cancer Center in Florida where he will spend the next month receiving preliminary in-patient treatment under intense supervision to ensure that his heart can handle it. If all goes well, after the month is up, he'll endure eight to nine months of out-patient treatment. Fortunately, his treatment will be covered, and we are so, so thankful for that. 

I'm setting up this page to cover basics and incidentals--to make sure that Barry has some breathing room financially so he can truly focus on his recovery, instead of on how to pay his bills (rent, electric, etc.). 

Barry is a carpenter by trade. That sentence is a vast understatement--my dad is a wood magician. He's had his hands on just about every house in Florida, it seems, and he does outstanding work. I grew up on jobsites with him, and I can honestly say it was my favorite thing from childhood. He's a hard worker, and he likes to help people out with his craft. The doctors don't know how big of an ask it is to tell Barry not to pick up his hammer for at least a year.  

Barry is many things to many people--to me, he's 'dad' or 'pops'. Because of his over-six-foot-stature and long hair, my younger cousins call him 'sasquatch.' Many of his friends call him 'the dude.' Several others call him 'bear,' which I have lovingly adapted to 'bearpaw' for my son to call him (a hybrid of Barry and grandpa). The point is, he's big part of so many peoples' lives, and we want him to be well again so he can go back to cracking jokes, running around with all the kiddos (because HE is a big kiddo!), and of course, swinging that hammer. 

Let's lift Barry (dad, sasquatch, the dude, bear, bearpaw) up and help him recover. Donate what you can, and if you aren't able to donate money, give him a call and let him hear your latest jokes--anything to get this big guy in good spirits and on the road to recovery.