Hey friends and family, this is Melanie, Andy’s wife, and I’m asking for your help.

Andy has been diagnosed with Stage IV Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, an aggressive cancer affecting his lower jaw. On September 16, he will undergo extensive surgery to remove the cancer, including part of his jaw and lymph nodes in his neck, followed by reconstruction using bone and tissue from his leg. Recovery could keep him away from work for as long as 12 weeks, and what comes afterward will depend on what his doctors find and whether additional treatment is needed.

For anyone who knows Andy, asking for help on his behalf feels almost backwards. Andy spent 20 years in the United States Marine Corps, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel, but his service to others never really stopped. For the past 10 years, he has worked at Home Depot in Flower Mound, where customers call him their “ROCKSTAR” and seek him out because they trust his knowledge and his honesty. He trains new associates, mentors coworkers, shares what he knows, and has spent a lifetime helping other people find their way.

At home, Andy is also my primary support. My physical limitations have left me largely homebound, and he handles most of what I can no longer physically manage. Now the person who has spent so much of his life taking care of everyone else is facing months when he will need others to help carry some of the weight.

Andy has no short-term disability, and his available paid leave will only carry us so far. Our $30,000 goal will help us through his surgery and recovery while he is unable to work, covering the ordinary expenses that don’t stop when cancer enters your life, along with insurance premiums, patient responsibilities, and the additional costs his recovery and treatment will bring.

If Andy has helped you, worked beside you, served beside you, taught you something, given you an honest answer when an easier one would have done, or simply made your life a little better by being part of it, I’m asking you to stand beside him now.

If you can donate, thank you. If you can share this fundraiser, that helps tremendously too.

I am fighting every day for him. And if you know Andy, you already know he is fighting.

For once, I’d just like to make sure he doesn’t have to fight alone.

Melanie