John's Battle with Lung Cancer

JOHN’S BATTLE WITH LUNG CANCER         The battle began on March 13, 2020 ... Stage 4 Lung Cancer with metastasis to the hips, he had a 10 cm lung tumor in the right lung… We were and are devastated. How could this have happened to John? A man who had suffered two heart attacks and  changed his whole way of living life because of that. He lost weight, was running up to 5 miles a day, and now cannot walk up the street without becoming short of breath. Why did this happen? John has been a family man, a loving devoted husband, a great father, a son, a brother, a co-worker; ( it has been said, “John is a Ray of shining light,” by his co-workers, and that he’s always smiling, happy, and everybody loved and enjoyed him ), a team player and a military veteran.  He has worked for the Human Services of Merced County helping thousands of people through their job losses, their medical needs, their financial needs and beyond. Now John is ready to enjoy his retirement after his service to his country and his county, but his real battle begins here after being diagnosed with lung cancer and all that comes with having this disease, test after test, medications, chemo, radiation and so much more. Since John's diagnosis the cancer has spread to his spine and now his brain.  We are so shocked at how fast this disease is moving through his body, despite treatment. John is a fighter, handling everything they put in front of him, he has a strong will to survive.  He survived two heart attacks, and we encourage him that he can fight this. He is as optimistic as we are. We have many people sending prayers and good vibrations to help us gain strength to battle this disease, but with the diagnosis of Lung Cancer comes costs that are becoming increasingly more difficult to handle. We are asking for any donations that you can give to help us continue the journey of healing his body. The cost of travel, gas, hotels, car rentals, food, insurance deductibles, co-pays, medications etc are becoming way too expensive. In the spring of 1980 John and I met and fell in love, shortly after we were married and had 3 beautiful children together. John O’Brien was stationed at Castle Air force Base in Merced, California. He served his country for 4 years, then went back to school to complete his Computer Science Degree and then became a supervisor for Merced County Human Services agency for the next 30 years. I have been one lucky woman to have had this good man in my life for 40 years and counting!. He has been a great husband and we had hoped to have many years more of happiness. We were excited that the retirement time would be coming so we could just go out and see new places. We have talked about taking a cross country road trip for many years when he retired. We even wanted to renew our wedding vows, but are we now halted from all that we dreamed about to fight and win cancer?          Going from a two family income to a one family income does not keep up with all these costs of everyday life expenses and now the cost we are taking on with Lung Cancer and the treatment. We are estimating to raise $20,000.00 to help with additional costs to help John win the battle. Any donations would be so helpful to us in our fight. If you can find it in your heart to help an all around highly regarded man with a big heart and many more years to go on sharing his spirit with his family and friends, this would be greatly appreciated and a true blessing to John T. O’Brien and his family and their battle with cancer.Thank you and kind regards.TAMMY O’BRIEN