Help Gary & Merle Selvaag Family—Double Tragedy
Donation protected
LOVING SUPPORT FOR GARY SELVAAG—GARY’S GUARDIANS
GARY’S TEAM NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Kay Lukken, Kris Olson, and Allan Selvaag are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of their brother, Gary Selvaag. Written by Kay Selvaag Lukken.
I have no doubt we all thought that COVID-19 would be the worst thing we would have to cope with in 2020, until our wonderful brother, Gary, was diagnosed with cancer on August 31st.
The summer began with Gary having painful indigestion in June, followed by lower back pain. In true Gary fashion, he continued with his routines without complaint. At that time it was our belief that he was probably suffering from acid reflux or bleeding ulcers — things that run in the family. But after the pain finally became too much for even him to handle, testing began. They did in fact find bleeding ulcers, but biopsies were also taken of some suspicious cells, and on August 17th, the possibility of it being cancer creeped into our lives, with the diagnosis finally given on August 31st.
After two weeks of testing at Mayo, as well as many tests done in Fargo’s Essentia and Sanford hospitals, doctors were perplexed as to the type of cancer they were dealing with. Ultimately their best guess came to this: Stage 4 Epithelioid Sarcoma of the Duodenum — unknown origin.
*Epithelioid sarcoma accounts for less than one percent of all soft tissue sarcomas, and soft tissue cancers account for less than one percent of all cancers.
All fall and into winter, Gary endured setback after setback with dignity, patience, and positivity. Along with chemotherapy, he suffered through countless tests, extreme pain, physical exhaustion, nausea, weight loss, bleeding, fainting, ER visits, hospital stays, stroke, and a pseudoaneurysm. Through it all he kept working as much as he could, but traveling to appointments and meeting clients in person, which he enjoyed so much, became too difficult. He had to handle as much as he could from home with his computer. Anyone else would have thrown their cards on the table and folded, but not our brother…
Whenever we talk about Gary, either in his presence or to each other, we usually joke that he was our mom’s favorite. How could he not be? He is the best of us four. He would do anything that was asked of him without complaining. He’s steady, kind, patient, compassionate, understanding, generous, accepting, encouraging, uncomplaining…a stoic Norwegian. He’s a giver of good advice, a patient listener, a reassuring voice, a wonderful friend, coworker, brother, uncle, dad, papa, and husband. We often say that he walks on water. Merle laughs then, rolls her eyes, and says we don’t know everything about our brother.
His favorite role now is that of Papa to two wonderful little girls. He’s been known to wear hats and necklaces at their tea parties, and he loves to read to them. No doubt he’ll be patiently teaching them the ins and outs of baseball if he hasn’t already started. Every Sunday he and Merle stay in close contact with them by Zoom calls, as they don’t live near each other. Anywhere their precious granddaughters are is where they both prefer to be.
It’s no surprise that other people see how wonderful he is too. Friends and coworkers of Gary’s had this to say:
“He is one of the kindest, most genuine souls that I have ever met. He truly cares about you as a person, and always puts everyone else first. He’s also a lot of fun! We have shared many beers and burgers on our business trips and meetings. People gravitate towards him, as he is one of the best. I am blessed to call him my friend.”
“Gary is more than a coworker, he’s a close friend. We’ve spent many good times at ballgames and on fishing trips. Gary is always willing to help, to teach others. I could not have done my job without him. Everyone who knows him learns so much from his upbeat and positive attitude.”
“He was so welcoming and helpful to me when I joined Safilo. He was generous and thoughtful and so genuine. I felt like he was an old friend.”
“He is caring and committed to his customers. His attention to detail is impeccable. He follows through with anything he says he will do. We love Gary.”
Gary has always loved sports. When he was younger, he collected baseball cards, and kept a notebook where he meticulously wrote down the stats of the entire Twins roster, and most likely each player in the American and National Leagues. He had columns labeled At Bats, Hits, Runs, Errors, RBIs, Home Runs, ERAs, and Batting Averages, all of which were memorized. He could list off anything about Carew’s at bats and hits, Oliva’s left-handed line drives, and describe Killebrew’s (“The Killer”) beastly home runs, as well as which game and inning he slugged them out of the park. To this day I would put him up against anyone in a game of baseball trivia. A life-long friend recently commented that he was always amazed at “Gig’s” rapid-fire baseball knowledge, and compared him to a MLB Google machine.
Another hobby that means a lot to Gary is fishing, and slowly meandering around nearby lakes in his boat. It’s a pastime that serves his patient, easy-going nature well. I don’t think it matters much if he catches a lot, as he finds peace and rest by throwing out a line as the captain of his own boat.
Though it’s been difficult for Gary and Merle as of late to accept the kindness of a gift card, restaurant card, or a monetary gift, they have humbly accepted these acts of love from family, friends, and neighbors to ease some of the stress that has been building these last few months.
Even with good insurance, the costs for Gary’s various, expensive tests such as MRIs, CT scans, PET scans, biopsies, lab work, medications, ER visits, hospital stays, and chemotherapy have become too costly for him and his wife, Merle, to handle on their own. (As much as they were determined to face the financial situation without assistance.) The cost for genetic testing of the cancer cells alone was almost $5,000 after insurance.
Donations from GoFundMe will primarily be used to help pay mounting medical bills, knowing that Gary’s health condition could change at any time and bring additional costly tests and hospital stays.
I think because our brother and our sister-in-law are such giving, open-hearted people, they would say that accepting help is much harder than offering it. But now it’s time for us to step up to the plate and pinch hit for Gary — for us to captain his boat, for just a little while.
Let’s slug this out of the park...
GARY’S TEAM NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Kay Lukken, Kris Olson, and Allan Selvaag are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of their brother, Gary Selvaag. Written by Kay Selvaag Lukken.
I have no doubt we all thought that COVID-19 would be the worst thing we would have to cope with in 2020, until our wonderful brother, Gary, was diagnosed with cancer on August 31st.
The summer began with Gary having painful indigestion in June, followed by lower back pain. In true Gary fashion, he continued with his routines without complaint. At that time it was our belief that he was probably suffering from acid reflux or bleeding ulcers — things that run in the family. But after the pain finally became too much for even him to handle, testing began. They did in fact find bleeding ulcers, but biopsies were also taken of some suspicious cells, and on August 17th, the possibility of it being cancer creeped into our lives, with the diagnosis finally given on August 31st.
After two weeks of testing at Mayo, as well as many tests done in Fargo’s Essentia and Sanford hospitals, doctors were perplexed as to the type of cancer they were dealing with. Ultimately their best guess came to this: Stage 4 Epithelioid Sarcoma of the Duodenum — unknown origin.
*Epithelioid sarcoma accounts for less than one percent of all soft tissue sarcomas, and soft tissue cancers account for less than one percent of all cancers.
All fall and into winter, Gary endured setback after setback with dignity, patience, and positivity. Along with chemotherapy, he suffered through countless tests, extreme pain, physical exhaustion, nausea, weight loss, bleeding, fainting, ER visits, hospital stays, stroke, and a pseudoaneurysm. Through it all he kept working as much as he could, but traveling to appointments and meeting clients in person, which he enjoyed so much, became too difficult. He had to handle as much as he could from home with his computer. Anyone else would have thrown their cards on the table and folded, but not our brother…
Whenever we talk about Gary, either in his presence or to each other, we usually joke that he was our mom’s favorite. How could he not be? He is the best of us four. He would do anything that was asked of him without complaining. He’s steady, kind, patient, compassionate, understanding, generous, accepting, encouraging, uncomplaining…a stoic Norwegian. He’s a giver of good advice, a patient listener, a reassuring voice, a wonderful friend, coworker, brother, uncle, dad, papa, and husband. We often say that he walks on water. Merle laughs then, rolls her eyes, and says we don’t know everything about our brother.
His favorite role now is that of Papa to two wonderful little girls. He’s been known to wear hats and necklaces at their tea parties, and he loves to read to them. No doubt he’ll be patiently teaching them the ins and outs of baseball if he hasn’t already started. Every Sunday he and Merle stay in close contact with them by Zoom calls, as they don’t live near each other. Anywhere their precious granddaughters are is where they both prefer to be.
It’s no surprise that other people see how wonderful he is too. Friends and coworkers of Gary’s had this to say:
“He is one of the kindest, most genuine souls that I have ever met. He truly cares about you as a person, and always puts everyone else first. He’s also a lot of fun! We have shared many beers and burgers on our business trips and meetings. People gravitate towards him, as he is one of the best. I am blessed to call him my friend.”
“Gary is more than a coworker, he’s a close friend. We’ve spent many good times at ballgames and on fishing trips. Gary is always willing to help, to teach others. I could not have done my job without him. Everyone who knows him learns so much from his upbeat and positive attitude.”
“He was so welcoming and helpful to me when I joined Safilo. He was generous and thoughtful and so genuine. I felt like he was an old friend.”
“He is caring and committed to his customers. His attention to detail is impeccable. He follows through with anything he says he will do. We love Gary.”
Gary has always loved sports. When he was younger, he collected baseball cards, and kept a notebook where he meticulously wrote down the stats of the entire Twins roster, and most likely each player in the American and National Leagues. He had columns labeled At Bats, Hits, Runs, Errors, RBIs, Home Runs, ERAs, and Batting Averages, all of which were memorized. He could list off anything about Carew’s at bats and hits, Oliva’s left-handed line drives, and describe Killebrew’s (“The Killer”) beastly home runs, as well as which game and inning he slugged them out of the park. To this day I would put him up against anyone in a game of baseball trivia. A life-long friend recently commented that he was always amazed at “Gig’s” rapid-fire baseball knowledge, and compared him to a MLB Google machine.
Another hobby that means a lot to Gary is fishing, and slowly meandering around nearby lakes in his boat. It’s a pastime that serves his patient, easy-going nature well. I don’t think it matters much if he catches a lot, as he finds peace and rest by throwing out a line as the captain of his own boat.
Though it’s been difficult for Gary and Merle as of late to accept the kindness of a gift card, restaurant card, or a monetary gift, they have humbly accepted these acts of love from family, friends, and neighbors to ease some of the stress that has been building these last few months.
Even with good insurance, the costs for Gary’s various, expensive tests such as MRIs, CT scans, PET scans, biopsies, lab work, medications, ER visits, hospital stays, and chemotherapy have become too costly for him and his wife, Merle, to handle on their own. (As much as they were determined to face the financial situation without assistance.) The cost for genetic testing of the cancer cells alone was almost $5,000 after insurance.
Donations from GoFundMe will primarily be used to help pay mounting medical bills, knowing that Gary’s health condition could change at any time and bring additional costly tests and hospital stays.
I think because our brother and our sister-in-law are such giving, open-hearted people, they would say that accepting help is much harder than offering it. But now it’s time for us to step up to the plate and pinch hit for Gary — for us to captain his boat, for just a little while.
Let’s slug this out of the park...
Organizer and beneficiary
Kay Selvaag Lukken
Organizer
Battle Lake, MN
Merle Holcomb Selvaag
Beneficiary