48 years old Mike Rabalais born in Ft. Myers Florida, graduated from Savanna College of Art and Design.

Married to Kimberly Schlachta with twin daughters : Scarlet and Violet (8)

Mike’s history of battle with cancer: in early 2014 Mike was diagnosed with his first cancer. A rare mediastinal germ-cell tumor (in the chest), that was successfully treated with chemotherapy, and open chest surgery to remove the tumor.

For more information on that journey here is the Caring Bridge Page link

https://www.caringbridge.org/site/36d323b0-b4d0-345b-ab49-2b846cc031bf?utm_source=website_share&utm_medium=share_button&utm_term=&utm_content=link_share_button&utm_campaign=private_home_page

With a new outlook, Mike and Kim got married in 2015 and had twin daughters in 2017.

In summer of 2023 Mike started having back pain. It got so bad he stopped working and was in and out of chiropractors and outpatient clinics, with no relief. He finally went to the ER in March of 2024, where scans showed an 8.4cm tumor in his spine around the L1 vertebrae. Emergency palliative surgery was needed to relieve the spinal cord compression from the tumor, followed with 10 rounds of radiation. The tumor was sent off for pathology and after 2 consultations it was confirmed a high-grade myxofibrosarcoma. High Grade Myxofibrosarcoma is known to be a very aggressive cancer.

Sarcomas grow in connective tissues such as the bone or soft tissue and are rare, making up only 1% of all adult cancer diagnoses.

While it is a rare soft tissue sarcoma overall, accounting for about 5% of all soft tissue sarcomas, Myxofibrosarcoma in the spine is extremely rare, as they typically show up as a painless lump in the leg or arm. It is known to have a high recurrence rate. Surgery and radiation are the primary treatments.

With this information, coordination with the Sarcoma clinic at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa Florida was brought into the treatment team. Recently this past summer, the 6.7cm tumor was treated with 25 rounds of radiation at Moffitt in Tampa Florida with surgery to follow.

He started Immunotherapy in September of 2025 to hopefully help slow down the growth. In October 2025 he had spinal surgery again to resect the recurring tumor. They were able to replace the fractured L1, unfortunately, due to the infiltrative nature and surrounding nerves and blood vessels, the tumor could not be fully resected as planned.

He is currently still healing from this surgery and will be receiving 5 additional rounds of radiation in December 2025 to help slow growth of remaining tumor. Due to the results of the surgery and the aggressive nature of the spinal tumor, he was given a terminal diagnosis, and will focus on palliative care and pain management, with a focus on quality of life.

Funds will go to offset medical bills, expenses and travel costs.