One of the Best... our Pops

Obituary:

https://www.simplecremation.org/obituary/James-Kevin-Daniel?fbclid=IwAR1fwT7i6KSTeTdS0LTY4a17zBxFUUW26qrUItNypmbfYJ9pkjPgKpfZBZc

Update on Kevin’s cancer journey.

5/18/23 at 5:40 he took his last breath. He is no longer in pain.

He is walking the street of gold hand in hand with Jesus.

I had forgotten just how many people he had touched in his short 61 years. In the last 5 weeks we have had so many friends visit him at the hospital and at home. Numerous phone calls, letters and texts. For those I am grateful.

Update May 15, 2023

From my Mom: Kevin’s Cancer journey continues to take its toll on his body. He is no longer able to get out of bed. He has not eaten in 5 days. Over 50lbs have been shed. He doesn’t open his eyes very much but he is listening. He is on high doses of pain medication so I know he is not in any pain. I am happy for that.

We have given him permission to take his mom and dad's hands and walk through the pearly gates. We’ve let him know we are going to be ok. And sometime down the road, I know we will be. It’s going to be hard and lonely. We had so many plans still. The kids will miss his wisdom, humor, patience, teachings and his love. Our Magnificent 7 will not really know how wonderful and strong their Pops was.

We have had so many friends and family come to say goodbye to him. It’s heartbreaking ❤️‍.

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Hi, my name is Chrissy (Daniel) Karrer and I have created this GoFundMe at the request of so many. The purpose is to help pay for the medical bills that have quickly started accumulating throughout this journey.

If you have ever met my Dad (aka Kevin, Pops, Cookie, Flash), you know that he has a great sense of humor. He is also the type of man to give you the shirt off his back. He loves his family, westerns, being outside, hard work, Dale Earnhardt, John Wayne, cowboy poetry, cattle, Polaris/Ranger rides, traveling, and National Parks.

On April 14, 2023 my Dad went to the ER for constipation, dehydration, pain and a touch of jaundice. By lunch, we learned he had cancer that started in the pancreas and had spread to the kidney, liver, lung and bones. He spent a week and 1/2 in the hospital in Ft. Worth. He then came home to my brother's house.

Due to the overwhelming amount and type of cancer, treatment is not an option. He is currently in hospice care. Over these past few weeks, he has had calls and visits from so many family members and friends. We are so thankful for everyone that has shared encouraging words, kept us fed, and prayed.

We know that we are at the end of this journey. While this diagnosis came out of nowhere and the cancer has progressed so quickly, we know we have been blessed with time. We have been able to talk with our Dad and let him know how much he has meant to us. To everyone that has visited, it has warmed our hearts to see and hear how much he has meant to you.

Over the last few weeks, my Dad has been concerned about the amount of medical bills that will accumulate throughout this journey. I know it cause caused him a lot of worry and his biggest wish is not to be a burden to his family, whether it be caring for him during this time or financially later.

Below I will post some updates from my Mom, they are a little outdated at this point but this will help paint a better picture of the magnitude of this disease.

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May 11th - From Stacey

I wanted to update everyone on Kevin Daniel cancer journey.

We met with Texas Oncology on the 8th.

He does not qualify for Chemotherapy or Radiation. The cancer is spreading fast.

He spends 90-100% of the time in his bed. He has stopped eating.

He does still know people that visit. He enjoys visits even though it seems he might be asleep, he is most likely listening with his eyes closed.

We are still getting blessings everyday from the Lord. Today was one of those days. Kevin was able to sit in his wheelchair for 20-30 minutes and enjoy some outside time.

We know we don’t have much time left with him but we are blessed for the days we will have.

Please say a prayer for less pain and peaceful passing. He has so many friends and family just waiting for him to take their hand and walk through the pearly gates with them.

April 28th - From Stacey

So I’ve been pretty quiet about this. 2 weeks ago today I got a phone call that changed our lives.

Kevin has had a pain in his right shoulder for awhile. We thought rotator cuff issue or pinched nerve.

He went to ER to hopefully figure out what was causing the pain.

Kevin (my honey) has cancer. First they weren’t sure if it was bone, kidney, liver, lung or pancreas cancer because it was everywhere.

He was transferred from Wise Health Systems in Decatur to Baylor Scott and White in Fort Worth. The first week was scan after scan to find the culprit organ that started this. His bilirubin was 36 which is high should be single digit. So that’s (the lung) were they started. He has been on high amounts of Narcotics to help with the pain. He was finally able to get a stent in his bile duct to hopefully help his bilirubin count come down and get rid of his jaundice. We had a biopsy done on his liver. Thinking liver is where the cancer started.

The culprit is his pancreas. Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer. There are not a lot of symptoms until it’s too late.

This has been so hard for him, me, our kids and the Magnificant7. We are still trying to process this and we may never fully understand all these big words we are learning like Stage 4 Adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Or the acronyms CA 19-9 (which should be 20 and his is 30,000), T-4 and M1 (M1- metastatic rogue cells spreading throughout the body).

We meet with the oncologist May 8th. We have been told this is not going to be cured, and no surgery will help with so many cancer locations. Right now we aren’t even sure if Chemotherapy will be offered. The doctors have worked on his pain management so we were able to leave the hospital.

We want him to be comfortable because we know he will always have pain. Family time has always been important to him. Now we will be spending as much time as possible as a family. We are staying at our son’s house in Weatherford. Friends and Family are welcome to come visit him.

Hold your loved ones close. Listen to your body aches and pains.

Kevin won’t survive this but we are going to make the best of the time we have.

Thank you to all the friends and family that came to see him in the hospital. We were told we had the party room and the nurses were happy to see all the visitors.

Thank you for all the bed side prayers, snacks, games, magazines, sodas, water, Uber eat gift cards, regular gift cards and just being there. They have helped in so many ways.