John Telin's Brain Cancer Fight & Attempt To Keep Home

Hi, my name is David Heckman. My 37-year-old son from Springfield, Ohio, Johnathan Telin, beat brain cancer after brain surgery and chemotherapy 8 years ago. Our family's struggle with cancer continued with his mom's passing from breast cancer in 2017. Now, this last September of 2024, we learned that his brain cancer has returned. Officially, his type of cancer is Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma.

Unfortunately, the brain cancer is inoperable this time and a terminal diagnosis. It won't be until after a couple of rounds of chemotherapy and some monitoring on progression before he will have any idea of a timeline for the remainder of his life. If he responds really well to the chemo, he could be looking at years. If he does not respond well, then we'll just have to see how things progress to know how short a time he may be looking at.

John thought he was in the clear from the 1st bout with brain cancer after testing in the clear for so many years. He went on to buy a house, got engaged, and went back to college full-time. Unfortunately, this has all been for naught. As a full-time student, he had quit working and was living on student loans as well as school-supplied employment. Due to the cancer putting so much pressure on his brain, he has times of extreme confusion, his memory is greatly lacking, and he has some communicative issues. Altogether, these things made continuing school impossible as well as likely a moot point now. He had to formally un-enroll from school to better access and qualify for government assistance programs, which he is applying to get.

This means he has not only lost his schooling but also his only minor source of income. Due to his confusion and other mental issues, the likelihood of him ever being employable again is slim at best and nonexistent at this exact moment. He is currently awaiting results from the government programs to reply but is hopeful that he will get some assistance through them due to his circumstances.

To greatly complicate things, his fiancé left him. However, it wasn't before she manipulated him into quick claiming the deed to his house into both their names jointly. To understand how this happened, let me explain a couple of things. The swelling on his brain was so bad that he was in the hospital for nearly a week starting at the end of last September while they got it under control. When I saw him after he was first admitted, he wasn't able to hold much of a conversation. He very frequently would start to answer a question and then fade off and never return to it. It was about 10 days prior to it reaching the point of him being hospitalized that she took advantage of this mental confusion and manipulated him into signing a quick claim deed into both their names jointly. I was able to verify with her that this was intentionally done with the full decision to leave him being made prior to having him file the new deed. She feels she was due half the house for staying with him for so long, even though she didn't really contribute to buying it or its expenses. I am currently hoping to find an attorney to see what can be done about the issue or if perhaps we can get a judge to void the last deed entry due to his mental state at the time.

To make matters worse, we don't know how the mortgage holder will react when they finally hear that the deed was changed. If they call the entire loan due, then it will be a court battle to try to keep the house, as he is unable to pay the approximate $40K still left on the loan, nor in any position to be able to refinance the house.

He won't live long enough to finish buying the house. However, it is his and it is a place he can stay until his daily activities and life skills deteriorate enough that he needs full-time care. He has accumulated a lifetime of memories and stuff that will need to be sorted and gone through for sale or whatever. However, he needs to keep the house long enough to be able to do that. The last mortgage payment he made this week is the last one he has any money to make. He cannot make his next one at this time.

If he gets approved for the government assistance, it will greatly help his daily living expenses and hopefully a large portion of his medical bills. However, he needs help in keeping the house, keeping all utilities active/on (he is applying for assistance there as well). Plus, he needs attorney fees for both the attempt to get the deed back in his name alone, as well as the likely fight there is to come with the mortgage holder.

The starting level on the fundraiser is likely low if the attorney fees get too out of hand or too many medical fees aren't fully covered, but it will be enough to get him started and keep him from losing his home for a while. I suspect I will need to update it, but I am trying to stay reasonable for now and hope to perhaps access some legal aid for him.

I am the point of contact for this fundraiser and due to his occasional bouts of extreme confusion, I will also be the one allocating and releasing funds from this fundraiser as needed.

Thank you for any help you are able to provide!!! If you can't help financially, please share, as my social reach is limited. Thanks again!