This GoFundMe account is for Steve and Christina Smith.  Steve was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006.  After being diagnosed, he was treated by having a colon resection, and recieving radiation and chemotherapy treatments.  These treatments were considered to be successful until a few weeks before he married Christina in 2009.  It was at that time that they discovered his colon cancer had metastasized into a tumor in his liver.  So began their combined fight for his life.  After being diagnosed, he had a liver resection, his gallbladder removed and a microwave ablation of a second tumor that was found.  Six months later, they had to repeat the surgeries, cut out the second tumor, and microwave ablate the first tumor that sits on his vena cava and presses against one of his bile ducts.  After these surgeries, he had chemotherapy treatments.  After a while, the chemotherapy stopped working.  He then tried radiation embolization with tri-spheres.  While the first round seemed to work well, the second round caused the tumors to grow and spread which resulted in him being referred to MD Anderson.  Christina and Steve spent two years traveling back and forth from Woodward, Oklahoma to Houston, Texas to Enid, Oklahoma, testing and trying different types and levels of chemotherapy.  In January 2014, MD Anderson informed Christina and Steve that there was no more that they felt they would be able to do and recommended that they stop treatments all together.  Thankfully, Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Oklahoma stepped in.  He was being treated with another type of chemotherapy and things seemed to be turning around.  Then the top tumor forced him to have a stint put in to his bile duct in his liver, due to the tumor crushing it.  After having to go in multiple times to flush the stint and replace it with a new one, they were able to put a stronger metal stint in, hoping it would provide more permanent help.  Unfortunately, the tumor continued to press and his bilirubin levels started rising.  Because of the elevated bilirubin levels, he has had to put chemotherapy on hold.  He had to have multiple biliary drains due to the liver not being able to drain properly from his bile duct and also a plurex drain due to fluid in his lungs.  Because of his high bilirubin levels and the sizes of the tumors, options have become very limited.  Steve has to have a whole liver radiation therapy beginning the first week of September.  It will consist of radiation everyday for at least 20 minutes for 5 continuous days, then he will have to rest for 5 days. They will have to complete 3 cycles of this and it is considered a high risk procedure.  Not only do they have the expense of traveling back and forth between Tulsa and Woodward, as well as lodging, food, and all the other day to day necessities, neither of them will be able to work their jobs.  Let's step up and help.  This is a man who has spent his life running into danger to help those in need.  Steve has been with the Woodward Fire Department for 22 years.  He began in 1992 as a volunteer firefighter, and became a full time firefighter in 1999.  He is a father, son, husband, brother, uncle, and friend. Thank you for your time and for any donations.
By Christina:
"For Steve and I, getting married was like planning a trip to Italy.  We had a plan, we learned the language, we knew what we we were going to do. we budgeted, and we had the future planned out.  We knew what sights we were going to see, and when we were going to achieve certain things together.  We had all the details.  But like they always say, if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.  All of a sudden, on the way to our beautiful predicable trip to Italy, we landed and the captain told us, "welcome to Africa! there are no refunds, no other flights out, and no way to get back to Italy."  We weren't prepared, we had our plans all mapped out!  What were we going to do with our knowledge of Italy, and our beautiful plans? All of it was useless in this new foreign landscape. However, as unforgiving as Africa is, I've learned something. There is beauty in even the most deserted of places. There is hope. You find yourself growing closer with your partner, because you are traveling this new world together. I've seen things in my husband I would never have got to experience, if we hadn't ended up together here. I see his strength, his determination, his love for me, his commitment, in ways that Italy wouldn't have ever brought out. So I guess what I'm saying is, even though it was our dream, I wouldn't trade Africa for Italy any day."