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My Fathers Story
David Smith is one of the most common male names in the United States, but when I hear that name, I think of strength, courage and desperation, and its all tied to one particular David Smith that I know and love very much; my Daddy.
The Divorce & How I Began Living with My Daddy:
All growing up, my parents were my best friends and I’ve always had everything I could ever want. Every morning before school, my father and I would cuddle up on his favorite leather recliner and watch Spongebob reruns while laughing at every joke like it was the first time we heard it. Soon after moving to Woodstock, Georgia from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, my parents decided they were no longer happy together and my mother packed all our stuff, moving us to Houston, Texas, while leaving my father and my life behind in Woodstock. I never wanted to leave my daddy. He spent every dime he had, worked every hour of overtime possible as a meat cutter at Ingles grocery store, and fought as hard as he could to get his daughter back from another state, being nearly impossible to achieve, the judge granted my father full custody of his “baby girl what does no wrong”. I was 13 years old at the time, and although I was getting older, I was finally able to start taking walks in the woods and watching cartoons on the same leather recliner again with my best friend.
The Beginning Stages of Cancer:
In the summer of 2016, my father started to fall ill with flu-like symptoms. My dad has never been the kind of person to go to the doctor for anything short of dying, so he continued to work every single day for 12 or more hours each shift hoping to get over his little cold. However, that little cold never went away. In September 2016 at 6:30 in the morning, my father calls my cell phone from the kitchen, with the sound of fear and vomit in his voice, he tells me to come into the kitchen because “he doesn’t know where all this blood is coming from”. I jump out of the bed like I just awoke from a nightmare and run into my kitchen just to see my daddy leaning over the sink and a waterfall of blood pouring from every hole in his face. Terrified, I gave him a bucket and put him in my car and we started heading for the hospital. That 30-minute drive felt like hours on end as the color began to quickly fade from his skin and his life starting to leave him. We ran into the hospital, blood still pouring out of his mouth and nose into a gallon sized bucket, grabbed the nearest wheelchair to catch him when he fell from losing over half the amount of blood in his body, and rolled him into Trauma Room 3. After 10-minutes of getting to the hospital, the blood stops completely. All his color and life came right back in the blink of an eye and nobody could explain why. He was admitted for 3 days, and after every test and every scan, the doctors had no explanation of where the blood was coming from or why it even happened. The hospital discharged him and referred us to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor that may be able to give us some answers. The ENT put a camera down my father’s throat and showed us a mass on the base of his tongue, and suggested we start chemotherapy and radiation as soon as possible because it is most likely cancer.
My father decided against taking any further action with any traditional doctors for his new throat cancer, and instead decided to go the natural, holistic route. For an entire year, my daddy’s throat, neck, tongue and lymph nodes began to become extremely inflamed and the tumor started to spread. Eventually he was unable to eat, talk or breathe. The vitamins and the natural supplements were just not working. After almost two years of fighting this battle and working every single day through it all, he became my hero. On December 4th, 2017, my father made the decision I had been begging him to make for so long; he decided to go to the hospital and get help before that nasty disease stole his life. After 3 long weeks of being admitted to the hospital, he had to get a tracheotomy, so he could breathe on his own, a chemotherapy port, and a feeding tube. he also had to have all his teeth removed for the radiation.
Our Financial Situation:
On February 14th he received his last check from his job and had a small savings to use towards living expenses, however, he has not been granted any income since then and he is running low on his savings to make it until July when SSDI (disability) starts paying him. I am 21 years old, working a full time job, going to college, and working as my fathers care giver in my free time and in the meantime, we need help with living expenses such as rent and utilities.
Our Goal:
I am his number one fan and I know he’s going to make it through this while we plan and look forward to the day I can buy him a steak and take our walks in the woods and watch Spongebob on the recliner again.
David Smith is one of the most common male names in the United States, but when I hear that name, I think of strength, courage and desperation, and its all tied to one particular David Smith that I know and love very much; my Daddy.
The Divorce & How I Began Living with My Daddy:
All growing up, my parents were my best friends and I’ve always had everything I could ever want. Every morning before school, my father and I would cuddle up on his favorite leather recliner and watch Spongebob reruns while laughing at every joke like it was the first time we heard it. Soon after moving to Woodstock, Georgia from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, my parents decided they were no longer happy together and my mother packed all our stuff, moving us to Houston, Texas, while leaving my father and my life behind in Woodstock. I never wanted to leave my daddy. He spent every dime he had, worked every hour of overtime possible as a meat cutter at Ingles grocery store, and fought as hard as he could to get his daughter back from another state, being nearly impossible to achieve, the judge granted my father full custody of his “baby girl what does no wrong”. I was 13 years old at the time, and although I was getting older, I was finally able to start taking walks in the woods and watching cartoons on the same leather recliner again with my best friend.
The Beginning Stages of Cancer:
In the summer of 2016, my father started to fall ill with flu-like symptoms. My dad has never been the kind of person to go to the doctor for anything short of dying, so he continued to work every single day for 12 or more hours each shift hoping to get over his little cold. However, that little cold never went away. In September 2016 at 6:30 in the morning, my father calls my cell phone from the kitchen, with the sound of fear and vomit in his voice, he tells me to come into the kitchen because “he doesn’t know where all this blood is coming from”. I jump out of the bed like I just awoke from a nightmare and run into my kitchen just to see my daddy leaning over the sink and a waterfall of blood pouring from every hole in his face. Terrified, I gave him a bucket and put him in my car and we started heading for the hospital. That 30-minute drive felt like hours on end as the color began to quickly fade from his skin and his life starting to leave him. We ran into the hospital, blood still pouring out of his mouth and nose into a gallon sized bucket, grabbed the nearest wheelchair to catch him when he fell from losing over half the amount of blood in his body, and rolled him into Trauma Room 3. After 10-minutes of getting to the hospital, the blood stops completely. All his color and life came right back in the blink of an eye and nobody could explain why. He was admitted for 3 days, and after every test and every scan, the doctors had no explanation of where the blood was coming from or why it even happened. The hospital discharged him and referred us to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor that may be able to give us some answers. The ENT put a camera down my father’s throat and showed us a mass on the base of his tongue, and suggested we start chemotherapy and radiation as soon as possible because it is most likely cancer.
My father decided against taking any further action with any traditional doctors for his new throat cancer, and instead decided to go the natural, holistic route. For an entire year, my daddy’s throat, neck, tongue and lymph nodes began to become extremely inflamed and the tumor started to spread. Eventually he was unable to eat, talk or breathe. The vitamins and the natural supplements were just not working. After almost two years of fighting this battle and working every single day through it all, he became my hero. On December 4th, 2017, my father made the decision I had been begging him to make for so long; he decided to go to the hospital and get help before that nasty disease stole his life. After 3 long weeks of being admitted to the hospital, he had to get a tracheotomy, so he could breathe on his own, a chemotherapy port, and a feeding tube. he also had to have all his teeth removed for the radiation.
Our Financial Situation:
On February 14th he received his last check from his job and had a small savings to use towards living expenses, however, he has not been granted any income since then and he is running low on his savings to make it until July when SSDI (disability) starts paying him. I am 21 years old, working a full time job, going to college, and working as my fathers care giver in my free time and in the meantime, we need help with living expenses such as rent and utilities.
Our Goal:
I am his number one fan and I know he’s going to make it through this while we plan and look forward to the day I can buy him a steak and take our walks in the woods and watch Spongebob on the recliner again.
Organizer
Darla Ann Smith
Organizer
Acworth, GA
