Support Chris Stiebler's Battle with Brain Cancer

Aloha Friends of Chris Stiebler,

As most, if not all of you know, Chris was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer last November. His fight has intensified by the week since that time. He has been in Seattle since the diagnosis and needs our help. Here is his story, anything helps.

Early last November, Chris flew from his home in Kauai to Seattle to attend the retirement party of Jeanie’s step-father. She immediately noticed things about him were off: he shuffled instead of walked normally, stood with an abnormal stoop to his posture, couldn’t hold eye contact when talking, and displayed a visible droop to one side of his face. While using the restroom at a restaurant, Chris had to text Jeanie for help to get back to the table, as he suddenly had become confused and couldn’t remember how to get back. The next day, Chris suffered a seizure and had to be rushed to the emergency room. A brain scan revealed the cause: Chris had a 5cm brain tumor in his left frontal lobe.

A mere six years after successfully battling lymphoma, Chris was now facing the prospect of having to fight cancer again. Within days of arriving at the ER, Chris underwent a craniotomy brain biopsy in which doctors drilled three holes into Chris’ head (like a bowling ball), sawed connecting lines, and removed a section of skull. The biopsy confirmed that the lymphoma had not only returned, but it had critically managed to cross the blood-brain barrier. Doctors removed a large portion of the tumor and then prescribed an aggressive course of chemotherapy to deal with the rest. He could not return home anytime soon—the need to start treatment immediately and the risk of further seizures made flying back to Hawaii untenable.

Chris spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas in the hospital undergoing treatment. Then, Chris’ news got worse. Despite two full rounds of chemo, the tumor had actually grown in size. If Chris continued on that treatment path, his doctor forecast he would have, at maximum, 1-2 years of life left to live. But because of his otherwise health and strength, he was a candidate for a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) procedure that held open the hope of not just an extension of that timeframe, but even the possibility of curability. After passing the necessary tests, Chris underwent the BMT procedure.

On May 20, Chris underwent a heavy dose of chemo that essentially zeroed out his entire immune system. Then, on May 29, he had 576 million stem cells that had been previously harvested from his bone marrow injected back into his body. He was in the hospital for about a month and it has been a bumpy road. Chris had a feeding tube for a time and spent a couple nights in the ICU due to respiratory issues. As his immune system builds back up, he can slowly get reintroduced back into society. Currently, he cannot have flowers/plants in the house for a month due to soil bacteria. It will be another six months before he can attend any kind of spectator events in person, and a full year before he can safely pick up dog poop from his beloved Johnson (who has remained back in Kauai). Chris will have to get his childhood vaccinations again and will be unprotected from a range of illnesses for the next year.

Chris has now been out of the hospital for a week and a half. He very much appreciates your support, prayers, texts, positive thoughts, and cards. Thank you to everyone who has supported him. The road to recovery is uncertain and will be trial and error for the near future. He requires daily outpatient treatment and must stay within a 30-minute drive of the cancer center in Seattle in case of an emergency. His treatments will be ongoing for a while. While Chris has successfully completed the transplant, he continues to experience gains and setbacks. He receives new information almost daily on his path forward, so it is difficult to predict exactly when he’ll be able to return to work. Please consider sharing some of your resources with him during this time while he is not receiving any income. Our goal is to support Chris until he is back on his feet and able to work again.