Get Dale to the Ocean

Co-organized

Melanie Cruz and Brian Preusser are organizing this fundraiser.

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My name is Melanie and I'm raising money for my Stepdad Dale.

Dale has been my stepdad for the past 25 years of my life. He's always been a dad to myself, my brother Ryan and his daughter Heather, and a wonderful grandpa to his grandchildren.

Unfortunately, he has been diagnosed with a rare cancer, Neuroendocrine Carcinoma. For the past 4 years, he has battled with painful tumors growing all over his body, chemotherapy and multiple surgeries. In 2019 we had a scare of him needing his first extensive surgery to remove a mass in his throat and his epiglottis. After this, we thought he was in remission and had beaten cancer!! However, until 2020 he had a mass under his right eyelid, creating pressure on his eye and giving him headaches. He then had an Orbitotomy to remove the masses around his eye and was sent to Pathology to find out more. After a PET scan revealed tumors along his ribs, shoulders and axilla, two different cancer boards looked at his case. They decided to try chemotherapy and immunotherapy, both having a low success rate, but we were hopeful that the therapy would slow down the tumor progression. The tumors from his shoulder, ribs and axilla were removed and later, another tumor was removed from the top of his head.

Dale always had good spirits and would joke to us about how he is a unicorn, which made the grandkids smile. The other family and I would laugh, saying that he is. He has seemed to beat the odds and overcame every diagnosis and surgery that has come along. He was staying strong, and we were getting used to it.

In Dec. 2021, all these tumors and surgeries became very real when they found a tumor behind his eye that was putting so much pressure on his eye he had lost vision. After going through all the options, they decided that the best thing to do was to remove his eye. This was devesting to him and brought up a lot of concern and worry. In 2022 he had 6 tumors removed; we could see things progressing faster these days. June 2022, he went in for a check-up to see how his eye socket was healing and to check his throat because his voice was raspy for several days. She scoped and found a massive tumor in his throat, pressing on his vocal cords. The Dr. explained that the tumor would continue to grow and eventually cut off his airways. After discussing at great lengths the different treatments, they decided that having a Tracheostomy was the best option and would only extend his life a little longer. He's desperate to stay on this earth for as long as possible and wants to spend as much time with his grandkids and his wife as his body will allow.

After his last appt, before getting the trach put in, the Dr. explained that Dale has 6-9 months to live and to live his life to the fullest now! The first thing he said was he wants to see the ocean and maybe even fish in the sea. He's always been an avid fisherman and made sure to "drop a line in" with every grandkid. So, my goal is to make his dream come true and get Dale to the Ocean! He has been accepted into the Dream Foundation, which makes the last dream come true for terminally ill adults, and is hoping to go to Panama City, FL, at the beginning of October. The funds raised will go to renting a vehicle to drive him through the sand, as he is in a wheelchair, so he can get as close as he can to the ocean and possibly go on a fishing excursion, food and other expenses.

Later, it will be used for any medical bills and end-of-life expenses.