To our family and friends, Ed Hayes is everything. He is the best husband, dad to 3 great kids, favorite brother, favorite uncle, and beloved Pop-pop to his three grandchildren. He is unique in his world of loyal friends and customers, old and new. Everyone is drawn to his precious, fun, giant energy. He has this infectious personality and chemistry with everyone he meets. I don’t think anyone ever leaves his presence not charmed in some way. Something is addicting about how he makes you feel when he is around. He makes people laugh and exudes a cool factor that draws people in. Someone who beats to his own drum and makes you want to sing along. Ed took a 100-year-old small family upholstery business and made it a success. Succes measured by glowing reviews from many Bakersfield families, decorators, hospitals, local restaurants, and service industry customers. Ed loves to work. He loves to be social and cares deeply for every acquaintance he has ever encountered in the 56 years of his life. He and his wife Kristi are high school best friends turned 37-year-old love story who just celebrated a wedding anniversary in July.

On the morning of July 30, 2022, Ed went on a short, beautiful, scenic motorcycle ride in the mountains with a few guys he regularly rides with on weekends. During the whole ride, he felt great. The trip ended at a friend’s bike shop. As soon as he got off the bike, he felt ill. He had been chewing gum and noticed a metallic taste in his mouth and a loud pulsing sound in his ears. He tried to speak to his friends around him but could not communicate words at all. An ambulance was called right away. On arrival at the nearest hospital, Ed suffered a seizure and was immediately intubated and heavily sedated. After hours in the emergency room, Ed's wife and daughter were told that an MRI and two on-call neurologists confirmed two lesions in his brain. He was transferred by ambulance to another hospital 1.5 hours away from home. Dr. Yaser Badr accepted his case in Glendale, Ca.

Ed stabilized the next day, was extubated, slowly lifted from sedation and thankfully recognized his wife and daughter once alert. After only one night of rest and being told all the alarming details after his seizure while under sedation, Eddie and his wife were told he would need brain surgery the next day. Dr. Badr’s plan to extract as much of the lesions as possible was a success. He extracted the largest of the two lesions and had to leave the small lesion in place. Removing the small lesion would have most likely killed Ed or left him with severe surgery deficits in vision, cognition, and or mobility. Recovery from the surgery involved the worst migraines a person can imagine. Swelling and surgical deficits were evaluated and showed some loss of peripheral vision in the left eye, some short-term memory loss, and mild cognitive spatial issues that may or may not heal over time. He is not qualified to drive safely with these deficits. Further baseline evaluations indicate that he will struggle to do most of his work tasks in the business he dearly loves. Not even recovered from surgery, still in the hospital, and suffering the worst migraines, Ed and his wife were woken out of a dead sleep to an oncologist brutally delivering an unsugar coated diagnosis from the full pathology report that wasn’t expected to be read to them for some time.

Our beloved Ed Hayes (56) was diagnosed with Grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme, a rare, reoccurring, extremely aggressive brain tumor. Based on the statistics, life expectancy for this form of cancer is approximately 12 to 18 months from diagnosis. Only 25% of patients are lucky enough to survive more than one year, while only 5% will survive more than five years. Despite the shattering news that would put most people in the deepest and darkest place of despair, Ed and Kristi remain incredibly strong, positive, and hopeful for treatment and his future. He will be rushed into a series of therapies, including chemo, radiation and possibly more surgery. On top of all this, with the help of employees and his brothers, he will transfer his beloved family business, Webster’s Interiors, to new management.

Everyone who loves this man is beyond devastated and wants to help. With Ed’s permission, his friends are undertaking this fundraising campaign and appealing to you to donate whatever you can so that Ed and Kristi can go forth in this fight against cancer with some financial peace of mind during this difficult time. Support will offset the loss of income during the restructuring of the business. Donations will help Ed seek out and access additional treatments that can help to prolong his life. Treatments like a ground-breaking new immunotherapy treatment called DCVax. Or the FDA-approved treatment Optune increases survival to 13% at five years, vs. 5% with chemo alone. Treatments like these can be costly.

Ed and the Hayes Family have been serving this community for many years. When his father died of cancer, he was only a teenager when he stepped up to work to help the family keep the small downtown business on 19th Street going. Kristi has been an East Bakersfield High School teacher for over 20 years. We are thankful for all the prayer warriors praying for him daily since the first news of his seizure. Now it is time for the Bakersfield Community and Ed’s beloved Minnesota fans from afar to support him and his family. We are so grateful for any support you may be able to provide.