Hello and thank you for taking the time to read about our story. This is very hard to do and very humbling to reach out for help in times like these. Cancer sucks and hits every part of a persons life when they are battling such a terrible disease. Kevin’s health story really began back in May of 2022 when he was diagnosed with Squamous cell carcinoma of his right tonsil and lymph node. He completed his radiation and chemotherapy that year but the last week of his treatments he developed meningitis after contracting listeria infection. That caused more health complications of course and delayed treatments and healing. Kevin was able to get back into the semi in 2023 and we moved back to North Dakota. I took that time off to spend time with him in the truck and was his partner on the road. Many of you were able to see our stories of our road adventures of our time spent together traveling across the country. After his battle with cancer and recovery from meningitis we realized life was to short and wanted to spend time together out on the road. Well during Kevin’s routine scans of his head and neck in February of this year 3 masses were found in his lungs. This of course meant further tests and scans to determine what these were, whether it was benign or malignant masses. So in March 2025 we heard the news no one wanted to hear, the masses in his lungs were that of squamous cell carcinoma of the right tonsil metastatic to the lungs. Unfortunately Kevin had to deal with quite the run around with the medical docs to get appointments sooner than later. I won’t go into much detail on that here but I will provide a link to our caring bridge website that shares the journey in more detail. A lot of frustration but with the help of a wonderful nurse navigator in the oncology dept. things started to happen! By the end of May Kevin started radiation and also had some to have some skin biopsies taken from his back. Just some suspicious looking spots I have been wanting him to have checked out sooner than later. Well come to find out that those biopsies showed the early stages of melanoma. So he had to go back in and have some more tissue removed from his back to ensure that no more cancer cells were present. He has to follow up again in 6 months. Kevin’s radiation treatments were strong doses so they could only be done 1 week at a time with a break of 3 weeks in between. Due to insurance reasons and the chemo cycle schedules that 2nd round of radiation got pushed to more like 5 weeks. But he finally finished radiation the first week of July. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy continue in 3 week cycles. Kevin has two chemotherapy medications, which one of those is a pump that provides continuous slow feed of the chemo over a course of four days. Those days are not fun at all for him. Makes him very weak and tired. No appetite and just feels crappy. Once the pump is disconnected on the 4th day then the terrible side effects kick in, never fails he always gets oral thrush and mouth ulcers. So he has to be on medicines to clear that up and that takes about a week to start clearing up. So it’s hard for him to find anything that he can tolerate to eat that doesn’t hurt his mouth. Kevin still has trouble swallowing due to the scarring of his throat from his cancer in 2022, so he has that to battle against as well. Other side effects he has been dealing with, which we believe is from the immunotherapy drug Keytruda, is fluid retention. We also know his chemo pump medication also causes fluid retention so this has been creating a strain on his heart and has put him in acute heart failure. He has low oxygen at times when he is really retaining fluid, but we are hopeful the medications for the fluid retention will help keep it down to where it isn’t so hard for him to breathe.

A few days ago he did have his first scan since starting treatment and it shows the tumors have shrunk about half the size they were when first detected. So we know the treatments are working, it’s just unfortunate all the hell it puts his body through. Because of all the appointments, the crazy treatment schedules, the labs and tests, and then of course the nasty side effects and the physical effects and fatigue and insomnia and the ups and downs of feeling terrible and feeling good, Kevin has not been able to work, and we planned and hoped that by now he would be revving up the ole diesel engine hauling loads again, but unfortunately that it isn’t the case and most likely not happening for a few more months if at all before the end of the year. Treatments will be finished by end of September if there are no delays due to poor lab work. His immune system has been poor lately which caused him to miss 2 cycles (6 week timeframe) pushing his treatment regime further out than previously planned.

Any donation right now would greatly help us out and be greatly appreciated. We are working on putting together some other fundraising events as well such as a local dine and donate at a local restaurant here in Bismarck and when the details become set I will pass that along. I know we have a lot of supporters out there thinking about us and praying for us and we really appreciate all of your support in anyway you can give it, even if it is just an extra prayer. Thank you to all for your donations.

follow Kevin’s journey on caring bridge

https://www.caringbridge.org/site/34414403-06cd-11f0-9bfc-e5e833f84826?utm_source=website_share&utm_medium=share_button&utm_term=&utm_content=link_share_button&utm_campaign=private_home_page