Seth's Cancer Fight Fund

Seth Owen (father, husband, journalist, Army veteran) has always been a history buff and a wargamer. Last year, he acheived one of his life goals of writing a book that incorporated both concepts; Fatal Choices: Wargames, Decisions and Destiny in the 1914 Battles of Coronel and Falklands.  During the writing and subsequent publishing of this book, he began to experience a deep pain that, despite pain meds and other interventions, was progressively getting worse.  In December 2014, two days before Christmas, we got the unfortunate news that, at the age of 59, my father had pancreatic carcinoma.

It has been only slightly more than a month since that diagnosis was confirmed, but it has been a rollercoaster ride as I'm sure many people who are dealing with this disease can attest to.  First they said there was a possibility of removal, then they said it might have spread, then they biopsied a second mass and confirmed it was not cancer, but came back to tell us they found another spot instead.  So my father went from a diagnosis of Stage 1b to Stage 4 in about one month.  And this is where we stand.  The average life expectancy at this point is approximately 12 months (though obviously we are hopeful for more).

My father was laid off from his job as a journalist about 5 years ago.  Since then, times have been tough for his family (not including me and my adult brother) which includes his wife and 4 children between the ages of 10 and 18 (the 18 year old is pursuing a college degree out-of-state and is unavailable at this time).  While his wife owns her own business and works very hard, it has still been a strain for them with only one adult working full-time in the house.  As my father's pain got worse in these past few months, it became necessary for him to quit his part-time job since even the highest dose of prescription pain meds did little to distract him from the extreme discomfort.  Finding rides to bring him to his chemo treatments can be difficult since they are in a "don't work, don't get paid" situation with his wife being self-employed.  I am helping as best I can, but I live over 70 miles away, so giving rides also means I must lose a day of work.

I am putting up this GoFundMe in the hopes that I can help my father and his family:

1) make up for the lost wages for the times that it is necessary for his wife to take days off from work to travel for my dad's chemo treatments

2) save for any expenses that may occur in the future. especially if the chemo treatments do not work.  as far as I know, there are no savings should things take a turn for the worst.


Thank you for taking the time to read this.  I love my dad very much and am proud of him for his military service, for his accomplishment at writing his book, and for his enthusiasm at helping to raise 6 kids over the course of his life.  My hope is that he will get a chance to see grandkids (I'm tryin'!), too.  But, unfortunately, I don't get to make that decision.  All I can hope to do right now is reach out to the internet and the kindness of strangers to help ease the financial burden that cancer inevitably brings with it.