In June of 2021, dad retired from his day job and started his retirement enjoying his hot dog cart, Eddie's Dawg House. He enjoyed that during the summer, then sadly, my brother got sick and passed away in September. That took a toll on his body and he was diagnosed with stomach cancer just before Christmas. He had an appointment scheduled originally on the 26th but unfortunately, he tested positive for Covid, which pushed his appointment out until today.

He is at stage 3 in his stomach and stage 2 in 2 of the lymph nodes inside the stomach. Unfortunately, the tumor is too big, so they have to do chemo first to reduce the size. The tumor is shaped like an hourglass. It's big on top with a small 5 cm hole in the center for anything he consumes to pass through. He has to be on a liquid diet from this point on. The tumor is into the walls of the stomach, including the muscles that squeeze the food out. Thankfully it hasn't gone outside of the stomach. His esophagus is working properly and his intestines are working properly as well. The doctor who did his scope recommends they get him in before the 11th and says if he can't keep anything down, we're to take him to ER to get a feeding tube. The doctor who did the scope is reaching out to the oncology team to recommend getting him in more quickly. Once the tube is placed, it will help him stop losing weight and make it through a round of chemo. After they start the chemo and see it's shrinking enough, they will do the surgery and make him a "stomach" pouch out of his small intestine. He won't be able to eat as he normally would have, but thankfully he will be able to eat a little bit which will be nice. The good news it's not spread anywhere else. So thankful we found out early enough and we're hoping they get the procedures done as quickly as possible.

Since dad's retirement, mom and dad are now on a fixed income and on Medicare. They had to increase his policy payment each month to reduce the co-pays. Co-pay for regular appointments costs $40.00 each. Specialty appointments cost $300 each and when he has his surgery, it'll be $500 per day for the first several days before insurance kicks in. He lives in Omak, WA, the closest place for his appointments is Wenatchee, WA. They could use help with gas to travel, hotel, food and the many different medications and appointments. The nice thing with the Chemo appointments he can do those in Omak. Once the port is placed, he can have the treatment then go home to his own bed. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! I will continue to update as we learn more.