Everything can change in a week; just ask 14-year-old Rowan Hight and his family. What started with a proactive visit with the doctor to examine a simple backache last week, has become an urgent life saving effort to rid a vibrant, active, young man of an unwanted guest — a rather large tumor encapsulated against his rib cage, pressing against his heart.

It was a small curvature in Rowan’s spine found during the exam that prompted an X Ray to rule out scoliosis. This simple procedure caught a monster before it continued to grow and cause unknown damage for years to come. Considering the rarity of finding a tumor in this fashion, the family is beyond grateful for Dad’s insistence about following up on Rowan’s back pain.  

Since receiving the news last Tuesday (Jan. 21), their life has been turned upside down. From CT scans to a thoracoscopic exam to biopsy the tumor, the Hight family has barely had a moment to catch their breath, and right now they are holding it tightly while waiting for the results of the biopsy — a few more days to go. Through it all, they have tried to keep things as normal as possible for their children. 

Is Rowan’s tumor benign or malignant? That will determine the course of treatment to come. Though the path ahead may be unknown, one thing is crystal clear — the monumental expenses that are about to consume the Hight family as they forge ahead. 

UCDavis Medical Center is the doctor preferred closest hospital that can treat Rowan’s "mass"; at 223 miles away from home that boils down to a 3-and-a-half hour drive (each way) and a hotel stay every visit. Taking into consideration the costs of gas, food and lodging, compounded by money lost from time away from work, the family is already feeling the heavy weight of the financial burden. All of this, before a course of treatment has been determined or the medical bills have even started to arrive. 

Financially, the timing couldn’t be worse for the Hight’s, (like there is ever a good time to discover your child has a tumor). Rowan’s mother, Nora, begins a sought-after program this coming week to fulfill her life-long dream of becoming a nurse. To do so, she had to cut her work hours back to one day a week, which allows her to keep her seniority and position, but also means the family will lose their medical coverage as of March, 1st. 

Rowan’s father, Dana, has been out of work due to a shoulder injury since September. Subsequent surgeries and a concurrent diagnosis of Degenerative Disc disease with bulging discs in his spine (that will eventually lead to yet another surgery), have kept his doctors from releasing him to work again; at least until May 1st. While Dana is considered to be on disability leave, he has yet to begin receiving disability funds, and the 6-week delay in remittance already had the family feeling the crunch before any of Rowan’s condition even came to light.  UPDATE: Disability funds have been received and late bills have been caught up BUT no more funds are available at all.  Now we only have one income and it is Nora's unemployment which she has yet to receive.

Rowan's Father is an Elk  and prior Lodge Secretary at the Mt. Shasta Elks Lodge #2333. His family are frequent volunteers in the community in and outside of the Elk's functions.   He is now a member of the Ashland Elks Lodge #944.

Taking all of this into account, including the COVID-19 pandemic, we have set a base-line goal for $15,000 to help support the Hight family through this difficult time.  If the tumor is benign, hopefully this will allow them to remain stable and keep Rowan’s needs accounted for as he encounters open chest surgery and recovery. Should the tumor be diagnosed as cancer, the game will change drastically depending on the course of treatment prescribed, and so will the goal. 

Rowan would like to share his journey with everyone as he travels through the unknown territory he is about to embark on. To help him with this, we have created a Facebook group to update all who care about his progress in real time.

Please follow Rowan’s story at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1026212077758807/ 

The Family can also accept funds via:
Facebook Pay: https://www.facebook.com/dana.hight
PayPal: [email redacted]
Venmo: @dhight 
CashApp: $danahight74
Mail to: P.O. Box 423 Mt. Shasta, CA. 96067

***One more important item: Currently, the family’s second vehicle is inoperable. While Dana has the know-how to fix it, the parts are still needed. Having two vehicles on the road will ensure the family can take care of the needs at home and maintain Rowan’s medical needs at the same time. Please consider any in-kind donations of parts or assistance to make this happen.
UPDATE:  Second vehicle has been repaired to make mobile but will be needing to replace it when mechanic made them aware that there was $2000 in repairs needed (head gaskets, axle boots, water pump and timing belt)
UPDATE:  Car situation is no longer an issue.  

UPDATE 4/20/2020

Rowan has been through surgery and the tumor was much larger than first expected.  He did very well through a 4 hour surgery.  He did not need any extra blood and is in good spirits....  At this time the tumor was sent to pathology again in order to know if this thing is cancer.  We won't know the results for another 7 days.  The prayers and financial support has been huge and since the COVID-19 epidemic we had know choice but to stay in hotel and be creative about food situation which cost us a pretty penny.  Hands of applause  to Dr. Sadai and his team for taking care of our son.  Now we get to find out what kind of treatment he will need.