Dusty Thomas Bucket List

Dusty Thomas, a long time Spokane/Post Falls resident is in his final battle with cancer. He has been a hard working family man his entire life in both mechanics and construction often working 70 hour's or more per week. He maintained good health up until his fortieth birthday in which he received a diagnoses of stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma and given 6 months at most. Determined to fight and win he subjected himself to 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy and radiation and the Hodgkin's Lymphoma went into remission. 2 years later at the age of 45 he found out he developed a brain tumor and required on going chemotherapy to prevent blindness. At 48 a work injury damage his knee requiring surgery to continue to walk. At 52 he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and began chemotherapy and radiation again then had to have surgery to remove his esophagus, most of is his stomach, gall bladder lymph nodes and surrounding tissue to eradicated all diseased tissue. All exams came back normal until last month when the found he developed a cancerous tumor on his spinal cord and he was told to get his affairs together. Not but for a few days in the last 14 years did he not go to work or give his conditions a chance to alter his life. A once robust, strapping 6'1, 280lb hulk of a man has been reduced to a 180 shell of who he was. His tumor places constant pain on his spinal column and will only increase, allowing for no sleep or comfort. We are seeking to purchase him a waterbed mattress to alleviate to pressure on spine and provide warmth to mitigate the swelling in the surrounding tissue and are working on a plane ticket to Alaska for a lifetime wish of fishing on the ocean. The boat and lodging are donated but he must get there while he is still able to manage a fishing pole with assistance.