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Many of you are familiar with Chris. Chris is not just my friend, he is family. I coached Chris at Mountain View HS, and he was the first coach I hired when I took the job of Head coach at Summit. Chris has been in my life for 24 years now. He held my son Noah when he was first born. He coached Noah in High School and is honestly like a son to me.
Before Christmas, I received a phone call from Chris. He needed some positive words of encouragement as he just found out he had tongue cancer. The outlook wasn't clear. Just the word "Cancer" had me shaking and worried. He told me the plan was to have surgery at OHSU and at that point they'd have a better idea of what the prognosis was.
Chris had decided to keep the news of his cancer quiet. His high school kids already had enough to worry about with the pandemic, online schooling and missing sports. Typical Chris Shunk...think of others first. "Let's just get through the surgery and see what the prognosis is".
To make a very long story short, Chris had a large section of his tongue removed. They took muscle from his arm to replace the muscle they removed from his tongue. They removed the lymph nodes in his neck and then took skin grafts from his leg to put onto his arm. This was a long, long surgery.
Chris had to be tube fed for quite some time. He just now is eating soup and starting to try some solid foods. Chris is learning how to talk again (as you can imagine, those muscles from his arm, don't quite know what to do yet). He has started coaching again, but he hasn't regained all of his energy just yet. Chris is undergoing radiation treatment currently to help ensure that the cancer does not return. The good news...they think they got it all! :)
Chris' prognosis is very good. He should make a full recovery and because he's so healthy and fit, doctors have no reason to believe that his life should be as it was before. Chris addressed the team the other day and encouraged them all to keep fit, keep healthy and hopefully...nothing like this ever happens to them. If it does, being fit is a real gift to help fight!
With insurance not covering all of the costs, it's time for all of us to assist. Chris has touched so many lives through his coaching, teaching and photography business. Let's all step up and see what we can do to help the Shunk's cover these medical expenses.
"It's easy to donate to all of these fundraisers for other people, but it's hard to be on the receiving end" says Chris. None of us ever expect to be in a situation where we need help, but we just might be someday. Please join me in helping Chris and Chelsea by easing some financial worries!
Thank you,
~Dave Turnbull
Before Christmas, I received a phone call from Chris. He needed some positive words of encouragement as he just found out he had tongue cancer. The outlook wasn't clear. Just the word "Cancer" had me shaking and worried. He told me the plan was to have surgery at OHSU and at that point they'd have a better idea of what the prognosis was.
Chris had decided to keep the news of his cancer quiet. His high school kids already had enough to worry about with the pandemic, online schooling and missing sports. Typical Chris Shunk...think of others first. "Let's just get through the surgery and see what the prognosis is".
To make a very long story short, Chris had a large section of his tongue removed. They took muscle from his arm to replace the muscle they removed from his tongue. They removed the lymph nodes in his neck and then took skin grafts from his leg to put onto his arm. This was a long, long surgery.
Chris had to be tube fed for quite some time. He just now is eating soup and starting to try some solid foods. Chris is learning how to talk again (as you can imagine, those muscles from his arm, don't quite know what to do yet). He has started coaching again, but he hasn't regained all of his energy just yet. Chris is undergoing radiation treatment currently to help ensure that the cancer does not return. The good news...they think they got it all! :)
Chris' prognosis is very good. He should make a full recovery and because he's so healthy and fit, doctors have no reason to believe that his life should be as it was before. Chris addressed the team the other day and encouraged them all to keep fit, keep healthy and hopefully...nothing like this ever happens to them. If it does, being fit is a real gift to help fight!
With insurance not covering all of the costs, it's time for all of us to assist. Chris has touched so many lives through his coaching, teaching and photography business. Let's all step up and see what we can do to help the Shunk's cover these medical expenses.
"It's easy to donate to all of these fundraisers for other people, but it's hard to be on the receiving end" says Chris. None of us ever expect to be in a situation where we need help, but we just might be someday. Please join me in helping Chris and Chelsea by easing some financial worries!
Thank you,
~Dave Turnbull