Alec Armbrecht's Journey with Pancreatic Cancer

If you know Alec Armbrecht, you know that he has always gone out of his way to help others. As a loving husband to Terri, father to Henry, Abby, and Gracie, and soon to be grandfather to twin boys, he has always placed his family and others before himself.

In February 2018, Alec was diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. As this disease has a very low survival rate, Alec went to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX to begin the fight of his life. During that year, he traveled to Houston multiple times. He endured 6 months of chemotherapy, a week of high dose proton radiation, and finally lifesaving Whipple surgery. Praise God, all of the treatments were successful. However, due to the high probability of recurrence, he has been returning to MDA for follow up scans, labs, and doctor appointments every few months. Thankfully there has been no recurrence.

As thanks to God for his survival, Alec has felt a purpose to share his story with countless other cancer patients, counseling them from diagnosis through treatment, giving them the hope that they too can survive this horrible disease.

However, the financial toll to fight his disease is very high, from insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, medications, items not covered or only partially covered by insurance, time away from work, travel expenses, lodging expenses and so on. Over the previous six years he has spent several hundred thousand dollars out of pocket fighting this disease. To help pay for these added expenses, he has sold his house, his car, and spent his retirement savings. Still, he has had to use credit cards to pay his medical bills, incurring interest on top of the balances due.

Unfortunately, on February 27, Alec began experiencing symptoms that were not right. After outpatient tests were inconclusive, he was admitted to Mobile Infirmary to diagnose the problem. They ordered a CT scan which showed varices (swollen blood vessels) around his spleen and portal vein. It was determined that he had developed a clot in a stent that was put in four years ago. The decision was made to transfer him back to MD Anderson as soon as possible. He will now undergo a complex procedure to remove the clot, replace the stent, and coil off the varices. This procedure is scheduled for Wednesday March 13 at 8:00 AM. Assuming God's grace for a successful procedure, Alec will incur even more current and ongoing expenses. Through his entire ordeal for the last six years, Alec has kept a very positive attitude, and lived as normal a life as possible. The fact is, however, that this is a very expensive disease to survive. With gratitude and faith, we ask for your prayers for Alec's healing, and if you feel inclined, to donate to his care and share his story. God Bless.