Paul Rushton's Health Crisis

On Monday June 23, Paul went to the ER, in Idaho, with symptoms of a heart attack. The next call I received from Paul started with, "the doctor wants to talk to us both." Our world took a devastating turn in that moment.

Paul had not had a heart attack. He has a mass the size/shape of a small football in his chest cavity. The small hospital where Paul was being seen immediately arranged to have him transferred, by ambulance, to Kootenai Hospital in Couer d'Alene.

Once there Paul underwent extensive testing and scans where an additional suspicious area was located on his liver. It took multiple days and a team of specialists to come up with a game plan. Initially there was a concern of doing a biopsy on the mass and disturbing cancer cells that were contained within.

Ultimately, the doctors decided to biopsy the mass first as this was directly causing Pails symptoms, which had not gone away.

On June 26 Paul had a biopsy of the mass done where they were able to drain 12 ounces of fluid. Paul has been released and is currently waiting for the biopsy results. No matter the results, Paul must have this mass removed.

We found out today that our health insurance will not cover Pauls medical care in Idaho. I have been in Texas with our grandkids (I was here when I got the news) and am flying to Idaho tomorrow.

We are going to need to get Paul back home to proceed with treatments. When we get home Paul will need surgery that will definitely require some sort of open chest procedure. If the biopsy comes back positive, we will need to include chemo and radiation in that plan.

We have no idea how much the medical bills from Idaho will be. All donations will go directly to Paul's medical bills and his care. We are overwhelmed by the love and support that we have already received both in Texas, Idaho, and Oregon.