Help with Tom Shoemaker's Medical Bills

A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart." -Hercules

Our own Hercules and Disney fanatic, our dad, was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer seven long years ago in June 2012. And with all unexpected things in life, the timing was off: with only one kid left at home, the responsibility to take care of dad fell entirely on mom. One colon surgery and six months of chemo later, Dad was told that the treatment wasn't working and was diagnosed Stage 4 with one year to live and the cancer continued to spread over these last few years to his liver and lungs.

Although shocking, the prognosis was simply seen as a challenge for dad - after all he'd already beat cancer once as a child. He knew he couldn't cure his cancer this time around, but he wanted to manage it as long as possible to reach important milestones in his family's life: high school graduation, family game nights, college graduation, vacations, moving days, promotions, etc.

So mom hit the books! She researched different cancer treatments, traveled to numerous centers and pursued all sorts of experimental, homeopathic and surgical treatments. Although his 5+ surgeries and numerous treatments bought him five more years than doctors predicted, each one was starting to become a little harder to recover from and the benefits of the treatment no longer outweighed the cost of his quality of life. He wanted to spend what time he had left with his wife and kids in a side effect free environment.

After working full time since his initial diagnosis and using vacation time as necessary for treatments, Dad knew the time had come to stop - that he needed to rest. He was placed into at-home hospice care in January of 2019. Mom and dad have been working hard the past years to pay off what we estimate is $100,000+ in medical expenses, but in these final months as dad has no-longer been working full time, and mom not working in order to take care of dad, the additional expenses have added up. The mere idea that we start a crowd funding page made her cringe and she said "I will be fine." Well if you know her, "fine" is not nearly what this woman deserves. She has been nothing but the epitome of what a loving and supportive wife looks like. She has not once left his side, has advocated for him when no one else would, and will continue to work up till his last breath to grant his wishes.

We would kindly ask that you consider making a donation in lieu of flowers or cards so that we may be able to take down some of the impending bills for her.

On behalf of all of the kids, we couldn't thank you enough for any help.

Kara, Tyler, Aimee, Alyssa and Hannah