William “Bill” Burkey is a Navy veteran, husband, father, brother, and lifelong man of faith who has been fighting colon/rectal cancer for more than six years. The cancer has now spread to his lungs, bones, spine, ribs, sternum, hip, femur bone marrow, soft tissue, and brain. His prognosis has changed from years of treatment to months in palliative care.

Throughout this entire fight, my father has continued working remotely to maintain income and medical insurance for himself and my mother. Even while going through chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, hospitalizations, and the physical toll of metastatic cancer, he has done everything he could to keep providing for her and protecting their stability.

Now, after years of cancer treatment, medical emergencies, travel for care, and a recent shift into palliative care, we are trying to ease the financial burden on my mother so she can focus on the time she has left with her husband.

My father’s cancer journey began when he was 56 years old. Since then, he has endured chemotherapy, radiation, and multiple surgeries. In 2021, he was declared cancer-free, and our family believed we had finally reached the other side of the fight.

In late 2022, the cancer returned and had metastasized to his lungs.

From 2023 into 2024, he began oral chemotherapy. The side effects were difficult, and the cancer was not responding the way everyone had hoped. After weighing the impact on his quality of life, he chose to pause that treatment and look for other options. At that point, he was willing to try anything that might give him more time.

In July 2025, he developed double pneumonia and had to be airlifted from my parents’ home in Mississippi to his oncologist in Louisiana. The following month, he resumed weekly chemotherapy infusions and continued them until December 2025. Once again, the treatment took a serious toll on his body and his ability to live any kind of normal life.

Before all of this, my parents had sold their home in 2022 and bought an RV with the hope of traveling across the country to see the national parks. They have a small piece of land in Mississippi, where my mother has been caring for him.

In February 2026, during a routine PET scan, doctors discovered that the cancer had spread much further. It had metastasized to his femur bone marrow and soft tissue. The tumors in his lungs had increased in size and multiplied. The cancer had also spread to his T1 and T10 vertebrae, his left hip/iliac crest, his sternum, and throughout his ribcage.

My father has just turned 62 years old. Our family is grateful he was able to reach this birthday, and we are now hoping and praying he will also be here for my parents’ wedding anniversary on July 1, 2026. At this point, every birthday, anniversary, visit, conversation, and quiet moment together means more than words can explain.

He endured two weeks of palliative radiation to his femur. Despite everything, he wanted to see his father and siblings, so he flew to Central California, where he grew up. While there, he was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and released the following day. That evening, he began showing signs of confusion and loss of balance. His brothers had him transported by ambulance back to the emergency room, where he was admitted for a second time.

An MRI confirmed two brain bleeds and a tumor at the base of his cerebellum pressing near his sinus. He required emergency brain surgery. When we received the news, I flew my mother, my younger brother, myself, and my husband to California because we feared this might be the end. Thankfully, the surgery was successful in removing the tumor.

My parents stayed in California for an additional week before I flew back out, rented a car, and helped them make the drive from California back to Mississippi.

We are trying to raise approximately $50,000 to help cover medical debt, treatment-related costs, emergency travel, hospital expenses, and the financial strain caused by years of cancer care. Although my father has continued working remotely throughout his illness in order to maintain income and medical insurance, the cost of ongoing treatment, emergencies, and travel for care has become more than my parents can manage alone.

The goal of this fundraiser is simple: to reduce the weight of medical debt on my mother so she can spend this time with my father as his wife, not only as his caregiver carrying the financial burden alone.

My father has been active in Christian churches for most of his life. When we lived in Long Beach, California, as well as in Weeki Wachee, Florida, he volunteered his time helping with church technology needs and was an active member of church services. He has always tried to be useful, present, and supportive to others in the community.

Now our family is asking for support for him.

Any donation, no matter the amount, will help. If you are unable to donate, sharing this fundraiser would also mean a great deal to our family.

Thank you for helping us support my parents through this painful chapter and for helping my mother have more peace during the time she has left with my father.

With gratitude,

The Family of William “Bill” Burkey