Before I get into the timeline and backstory of my Dad's fight with this nasty C-word, I just want to take a second to thank each and every one of you individually from the bottom of my heart for the outpouring of love, prayers, support and thoughts you all have been sending our way. I promise that even tho we may not be replying to every single message, comment, or post, we are reading them, and we see you guys reaching out. Seeing that my Dad has such a great support system is so amazing and has truly pushed him to keep going. I genuinely do not have words for how thankful we are for all of you. With all of this being said, all of you who ACTUALLY know my Dad know that he will probably strangle me for making this GoFundMe lol. He is a VERY stubborn man and does not like to take handouts or accept that it is okay to ask for help sometimes. The donations everyone has given up to this point have helped immensely and have carried them a long way. However, as everyone knows, life doesn't pause when hardship rings. The costs of the trips every three weeks for treatments, gas, bills, groceries and much more are starting to burden and weigh down on my parents. They have multiple maxed-out credit cards and are beginning to sell their things to cover costs for everything. Retirement checks just aren't enough to cover it all. For those who do not know, my parents, travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for treatments in hopes of a better survival rate from a bigger cancer institute.

July 19th 2021

This was the day our lives were flipped upside down with the most dreadful news we could imagine.

This was the day all of our nightmares became a reality.

This was the day my entire family's lives changed forever and now a date we won't ever forget.

On this night my Dad Ron, as many know as MADDOG, went to the ER in Coudersport to get looked at because he had been in pain, and it became too uncomfortable to deal with at home. He knew something was wrong because he had just been so tired lately, falling asleep with company at the house, and despite the B12 shots his family doctor prescribed, nothing was helping. During this visit, scans revealed numerous tumors on his liver. After spending time being admitted, he decided it would be best for him to look for treatment outside of our small area with not-so-experienced doctors. No hate on them - he had a fantastic care team during his stay and diagnosis in Coudersport. They were very thorough and left no questions that they could answer unanswered. I'm sure you all can only imagine how many questions we had at this point. Unfortunately, it was also made clear that the cancer was most likely metastatic here during this stay.

Moving along to August, when he took his first trip to Indiana to Parkview Cancer Center, he was officially diagnosed with Metastatic Stage 4 Small Cell Carcinoma. This means it had already spread to other areas in his body for those who do not know. Following this news, my Dad and his care team out there made a treatment plan. This included him doing chemotherapy and immunotherapy together from August to October. However, we were not out of the woods yet. From December 10th to December 20th, my parents stayed in a hotel near the hospital so my Dad could do radiation once a day for almost 2 weeks. The immunotherapy I mentioned is a treatment that is indefinite as of right now. He will be on it until the oncologist decides differently. As mentioned above, this means trips every 3 weeks.

The final push to make this GoFundMe was February 16th. Unfortunately, my Dad was in the ER in Coudersport AGAIN due to, again, persistent pain that became unbearable. During this visit, scans were done showing the cancer has spread/grown. His oncologist in Indiana called him out this week to do a PET scan, a more detailed scan telling them and showing them exactly where the cancer is at in his body. The results are in, and unfortunately, things are not looking great, but we are staying hopeful and praying for a fighting chance still. My parents are meeting with the doctor this Friday, the 25th. My dad is hurting but is willing to keep fighting and pushing for his family. He wants to be here, and I want him to be able to fight if he has it in him.

If any of you guys have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, Ro, on Facebook or by email.

( [email redacted] )