Update: My dad lost his battle with cancer August 13 at home with family.

Original Post:

My dad, Kenny, is really sick.

He’s a helper. He worked his whole life. He grew up working on a farm, worked at the mills when he was still in school, was an engineer for Channel 3 for 10 years, and all the time fixed things. He can fix anything mechanical or electrical. He started his business, SS Electronics, where he fixed TVs, VCRs, microwaves, etc. for many many people. On his time off, Kenny helped others with their cars, mowers, furnaces, tractors, etc. He has always worked hard. In the 80s he got Lyme Disease, lost all his gains, but he still kept helping people. His inventions helped people do things like start cars and slice cheese. Even now, he is still solving problems for friends and family.

He & my Mom, Bunny, have been married for 59 years. My Mom worked helping people her whole life, too. IYKYK. Mom has had cancer twice. The doctors found her cancer early and she was able to be fully treated for both bladder and skin cancer. She’s 87 and has been slowing down since her retirement at age 79.

Well. Now Pa is fighting cancer. It’s an aggressive sarcoma they discovered at the end of February. Mom can’t help him, as they’ve both been struggling with aging and health. I am their only surviving child and have naturally become their caregiver.

Pa is being treated at Mayo Clinic. What seemed like a do-able plan has become more difficult because some of the treatment wrecked his sense of taste. Since early March my dad has said all food/drink tastes so foul it makes him gag. Good thing he was a solid 87 year old man with a strong will to live.

Pa had 3 weeks of outpatient radiation. My son & I took turns driving to Rochester to stay with him to help care for him. However, he’s now lost so much weight he needs to stay in the hospital at Mayo.

Now, one of his worries is how much the costs are adding up to be.

The Mayo team is talking about postponing his surgery to keep him in the hospital awhile to feed him with a tube and build up some strength.

Pa asked me, “How come no one has made a gofundme for me?” That’s his way of asking me to do it. He has health insurance. But he still has been billed thousands for some of the scans, tests, meds & things.

Driving back & forth, paying for hotels (even cheap ones) for weeks on end, having to cancel my gigs (my work) is taking a toll on our finances, too.

So, here I am making a GoFundMe.

Please contribute if you can.