My father, William Franklin, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in February 2025. Over the past year he underwent several treatments such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy to keep the disease at bay. He had hoped to reverse it's progression.

My dad kept to himself about how serious of a threat he was facing. He didn't reveal what stage the cancer progressed to in order to protect our family's feelings. The only person he was upfront with was my mother, as she was his caretaker for the entire year.

Still, my sister and I saw him lose more and more mobility and weight each passing month. He went from getting winded going up the stairs last year to becoming completely frail and bedridden for months. The near constant pain of lung cancer treatments and the disease itself had taken such a toll on his body that at the start of February 2026, he made the difficult decision to no longer continue treatment.

"The treatment is worse than the disease"

On February 11th, 2026 at 4pm, he lost his battle to cancer. He was surrounded by loved ones in hospice care as he took his final breath.

The purpose of this fundraiser is to alleviate some of the costs of the funeral. My mother, sister, and I aren't in the best financial position for such unexpected costs, but we still would like to honor my father with a proper burial.