In February of 2025, John was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal lung cancer. This was devastating news for him and his family, but there was hope to slow progression so he could enjoy the years to come. He had been participating in a clinical trial with the miraculous mad scientists at Fred Hutch Cancer Care Center for his specific cancer type — EGFR, non small cell. But because life has never thrown just ONE project at a time his way, he suffered a sudden stroke on Monday December 8th, and Doctors at Harborview Medical Center performed an emergency surgery to remove a life threatening blood clot from him his left frontal lobe.

It's too early to know the full extent of his recovery, though he is experiencing disabling aphasia and apraxia, defined as an inability to access normal speech and motor skill functions, particularly on his right side. Due to the stroke, John's cancer treatment at Fred Hutch is currently on hold and it's unfortunately unlikely that he will be healthy enough to continue.

So with his family and friends at his side, the focus is to rehabilitate him at Harborview’s Recovery and Therapy Unit over the next few weeks in order to achieve his best possible quality of life so he can get home to his family and spend the remainder of his time surrounded by love and of course, his dog.

While the effects of his stroke are severe, he has shown daily improvement and we are hopeful the trend continues. He was just moved to Harborview’s Recovery and Therapy Unit to begin the arduous work of regaining his best possible quality of life. We anticipate him being in the unit 2-3 weeks and visitors will be limited due to the intensive rehab he’ll be doing. The goal is to get him home to his family.

As Star and Riley prepare to bring John home, they are faced with the high costs of consistent health aids. All donations will go towards hiring consistent care so that his family can focus on what matters — being his family.

John's life as of late has been spent splitting time between the family’s homes in Bend and Seattle. In Central Oregon, John and Star have been hiking, swimming and taking in the high desert beauty. In Seattle, they've been soaking up life as grandparents to Sunny and Poppy, and spending time with their children, Zyan, Riley and her husband, Josh. The whole family currently resides together in the Queen Anne hilltop house, with three dogs, and a lotta love. His family hopes to immerse him in as much of his old routine and life joys as possible.

Our goal is $30,000 to cover 5-6 months of daily professional caregiving so John can remain home with his family, his dogs, and the life he loves. Any and all help is incredibly appreciated.

Much love,

John's Family