The Alaska Dream

I'm a dad. My son, Benjamin DeFehr was diagnosed with Synovial Sarcoma stage 4 back in August of 2022. I’m writing this because he is just too quiet, and never really opens up, no matter how bad things get. If you Google Synovial Sarcoma stage 4, you’ll understand better what I mean about how bad things get, and maybe understand how quiet Benjamin is. You won’t hear a peep from him about what is going on in his life. Everyone who loves him complains all the time, they have to dig it out of him.

In the winter of 2021, Ben came to me and told me he bought a house in Fairbanks, Alaska. He was chasing a dream, to be an Alaskan Gold Miner. He was already working at the Round Mountain Gold mine in Nevada, but he wanted to be in Alaska. He didn’t have a job up there but was going to chase that dream because he was young, and the time is now. I thought he had tired of listening to all armchair dreams and was going to show me how to really chase dreams. I remember telling him, “OK, you’re young enough for this kind of thing.”

When he got the call, about a gold mining job in Alaska, he took off. His wife Michelle and their daughter, Korie loaded everything into large bags and together boarded a plane to Fairbanks. He was just getting settled when he decided to have some pain checked out in his leg. The pain was a large tumor, the scans found two more in his pelvis, and his lungs were full of smaller ones. Ben is not a complainer, he decided to ignore what Google says, and he was going to fight. He finished his first round of Chemo, six weeks, 24 / 7, and three different Chemo drugs. One they called the devil, but he fared well through it. Lost his hair, and had some fatigue, but without any income coming in he was completely dependent. His wife got a job, but hours for her are scarce. She can barely keep up with the mortgage. Ben’s income was everything to them, and many bills go unpaid.

Now it looks like another round is coming up. They are wanting him to be in Seattle for two months of Chemo and radiation treatments. This time we need to provide him with housing in Seattle. You might think there are organizations or the government that steps in. You would be wrong. We have looked everywhere for support. Nobody is going to pay his bills, his unemployment was denied, he’s fighting that, SSDI denied, disability (SDI) approved, but won’t pay anything for months. We have been supporting him with funds from our church, and our family has pulled together to assist him with time and money where ever possible. However, our ability to maintain this is running out.

That’s why I am now on a GoFundMe page. Reaching out for my son Benjamin. Every dollar donated to this fund will go directly into Ben’s bank account. These funds will assist him with paying his bills so that he can fight this cancer. Please donate, we really don’t have any other place to turn. Thank you.