My step-dad was recently diagnosed with cancer. Him & my mom will be out of work battling through the next several months. I’m asking for prayers, but if you feel led to help monetarily to get them through this tough time, feel free. He’s a fighter From my mom: “I’ve been trying to find the right words to update on Chad’s condition. The past 2 days have been rough and our world has been flipped upside down. Something I never thought we would have to face at this point in our lives. Wednesday, Chad went to Dr. Khan with severe abdominal pain and bloating. His blood pressure was stroke level when he got there. They gave him Clonidine to bring it down quick and called me at work to come get him and take him to be admitted to Starr Regional in Athens for testing on his abdomen. We thought he may have a bowel blockage, appendicitis, maybe even pancreatitis. No one ever mentioned the dreaded word CANCER. After his CT scan, they came in and said he had a large mass on his colon and two smaller masses on his liver. Our hearts dropped to the floor. There we sat in that ER room holding each other, trying to grasp this journey that we are about to go on. There is no doubt in my mind that Chad is strong enough to beat this! We just have to keep praying without ceasing and support him in every step along the way. I will confess, I’ve not been the best support the past two days. It has taken me a while to take it all in and get all of my emotions out! I’m going to try my best to do better to be stronger for him because I know he would move mountains to be strong for me! WE WILL BEAT THIS! This is the plan going forward. Today, Dr Ballay will take out the cancerous part of his colon and resect it hopefully with no ostomy. We will have to keep him well and let him heal for 6-8 weeks before he will be able to have the liver operated on. This is the part that is killing me! The liver is in stage 4. Having to wait that long to be able to have surgery on it is going to be the most painful part of this. But we have trust in GOD! He will go to either UT or Erlanger for that surgery. After he has recovered from that he will be able to start his chemo and radiation treatments. This is going to be a a long, long road of recovery but we can do it! Chad is one of the strongest people I know and has a huge support group! Again, WE WILL BEAT THIS! God is in control and we have complete faith in HIM. HE will hear our prayers and heal Chad. Please join me in praying today for Chad, Dr. Ballay, staff and nurses as they perform his 3-4 hour surgery this afternoon. We love you all and thank you for all of your prayers and support during this time. ❤️❤️❤️ Our fight has only just begun! We can do this!“