On August 29, our brother-in-law, Chris O’Brien, was found to have Stage 3 colorectal cancer.
This news is terrifying on its own. Combined with the challenges their family has faced over the last three years, it is especially trying—emotionally, physically and financially.
Our mother, Cheryl Meier, received a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis in August of 2023 and passed away June 6, 2024, her friend and employer passed away in April of 2023, and Catherine had her own surgery this past summer. For the last two summers, Catherine and Cedar spent their time in Nebraska caring for Cheryl and her affairs. On top of navigating grief and major life changes, their family’s financial resources have been depleted.
For the last year, two really, Chris was sick – a lot. Working in a school they thought that he must just be picking up everything that the kids pass around. But it was continual, each virus seemed like the most intense version, and it was as though he would never get completely over one thing before getting another. And then he started losing weight … rapidly. By last spring it was becoming clear something was really wrong. He had been attributing whatever was going on to the stress of all the other things – his mother-in-law, supporting his family, etc. When he finally had a colonoscopy in August, a very large (softball sized) tumor was found to be almost completely obstructing his lower intestine.
The good news is that it appears to have not spread to other areas. The doctors initially thought that the tumor could be surgically removed and then life would continue on. Chris underwent surgery on September 18, but it didn’t go as expected. The tumor was too large to extract. Instead, they performed a colostomy so that he would be able to eat food again. He weighed only 141 pounds before surgery.
Chris woke up from surgery to a new plan, a colostomy bag and he had his first chemotherapy infusion on October 8. He will have four months of chemotherapy followed by four to six weeks of radiation combined with chemo pills, and then sometime in the spring will have surgery again to remove the tumor. Hopefully, if all goes well, by next fall he will have had a procedure to reverse the colostomy and he will be healed.
While the prognosis seems good and offers a positive outcome, it is a struggle.
Chris really loves his job but will have a very limited ability to work through the many months of treatment and surgeries ahead. Catherine will also be limited between her own job, studio work, and caring for Chris and the family.
For those that don’t know, Chris, Catherine, Dylan and Cedar (ages 16 & 9) live on the North Shore of Lake Superior in a valley just beneath Sawmill Dome a few miles east of Finland, MN. Chris works as a special education paraeducator for Cook County Public Schools in Grand Marais who dreams of finishing graduate school and continually learns, makes music, writes, and photographs the world as he sees it. Catherine has continued her studio art practice for the past sixteen years since graduating from University of Michigan with her MFA and now has a studio in Grand Marais. She also works for Cook County Public Schools driving School Bus. They’re a strong family and all in all, their family is good, their kids are happy, and they are getting through it together.
They have a great deal to carry this coming year. The loss of Chris’ income will create financial uncertainty for their family and increased stressors. Any support you can offer to help carry this weight will be tremendously appreciated and will allow them to focus on Chris as he moves through treatment and healing.
We are Rachael Barlow and Rebecca Bravo, we are hosting this Go Fund Me for our oldest sister Catherine and her family. Thank you!!! – the Meier girls.