Hi everyone, this is going to be very hard for me to type but I’m going to do my best. My name is Austin Rust and I have had the privilege to take care of Roy Howell with my amazing and supportive family. Roy was born with Down syndrome and has smiled since the day he was born. The amount of love that we have for Roy is indescribable, but more importantly the love that he has for everyone else is way more admirable. Roy loves WWE, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Days of our lives, His friends at special olympics as well as his friends at his day program, but the thing he loves the most is the everyday encounters he has with anyone who comes into his life. He is the most social person I have ever been around. Whoever you are, whatever your background Roy is understanding, open, and willing to talk to you as long as you’ll lend an ear to listen. About 3 weeks ago Roy had a sudden change in appetite and wasn’t interested in eating like his normal self so we decided to take him to his primary care doctor to check up on him. Upon some of the testing ordered a CT scan was ordered and that’s when the Boulder came crashing through our lives. We went from the doctor suspecting him being constipated to the worst fear we could ever imagine cancer all within hours. Because of the many locations of masses the original oncologist suspected lymphoma, but upon further testing and biopsy we have found out that Roy has a type of Stage 4 GI cancer. We are still undergoing more testing to find out specifics but what we know now is that the type of cancer he has is very aggressive and the treatment can only do so much. The prognosis from the oncologist is without treatment under 6 months and with treatment anywhere from 6 months to a year and a half we will have with him. So which leads me to typing this more emotional than I have ever been in my life. Roy doesn’t deserve this outcome and I will do anything in my power to make sure that he has the best remaining life that’s possible. Im not the type of person to put my hand out and ask for help but with the worry of not being able to give him what he deserves I reach out as hard as I can. He starts his first round of chemo on November 4th and has 2 minor surgeries before that. I wish I could give Roy everything he ever wanted but being realistic with the unknown upcoming medical bills, funeral expenses, and general costs that come along with this hell I’m not sure how well we can do that. I have never dealt with this experience and all I know is the information that is passed along from other people that have dealt with this terrible disease, and it is terrifying to us to see this bright star be anything but his highly optimistic self. We are keeping Roy’s spirits up by not burdening him with this terrible new found information, but instead trying to give him the world while we still can. Thank you everyone for the time you took to read this we are going to fight our butts off and Roy is the strongest person I know.
Organizer
Austin Rust
Organizer
West Mifflin, PA