Randy Atwood terminal cancer fund raiser

To Our Dearest Family and Friends

As many of you may already know, lifelong valley resident Randy Atwood has been diagnosed with aggressive terminal throat and lung cancer. Randy and his wife Debbie have recently returned from 5 long weeks of daily radiation treatment at the cancer clinic in Kelowna. Randy is struggling and has endured excruciating throat pain, is on high doses of pain medication for radiation burns and requires a feeding tube for nutrition, which just got surgically implanted last week. Treatment will now continue with chemo as an outpatient in Cranbrook. As you can imagine, this has taken an enormous toll on both of them physically, emotionally and financially for out-of-town accommodation, travel, food and uncovered medical expenses. However, their strong faith in God has not and will not be broken through all of this.

Randy was a logger in the valley for many years and then worked as a heavy equipment operator at a gravel pit in Alberta, travelling home to Radium Hot Springs on weekends. He retired not quite a year ago after a life of hard physical labour at the age of 68 and was looking forward to spending his golden years with his wife Debbie in the community he loves.

While far from wealthy, he was set to enjoy retirement with a little bit of savings combined with OAS and CPP. Unfortunately, that may not be. Despite the constant excruciating pain, Randy remains Randy, a kind, caring, and cheerful person who never has a bad word to say about anyone. Who is always first to offer help to friends and strangers alike.

This fundraiser will help Randy and Debbie with their daily needs and ease a heartbreaking, stressful situation. Please pray for his physical and spiritual strength to overcome their trials in the coming months. Also, please keep their family in your prayers, and we thank you for your support, whether it comes financially, in prayer, through a phone call or other means.