Kelly and I go way back to our Sierra days from the late 90s early 2000s. She has always been one to help out anyone in anyway she could and do it with such positivity. I know they don't want to ask, but she and Carl have faced so many challenges lately and I felt this was the least I could do to help out. Please see their story below and if you feel inclined, please donate, share, send a prayer or good vibe their way.

The majority of us know someone who has been affected by cancer and we pray that it doesn’t happen to us. Well, cancer has reared its ugly head, again, at our little family. In 2024, I had stage 2 breast cancer with a lumpectomy and 5 1/2 weeks of radiation treatments. I am happy to report that I just had my scans this month and I am cancer free!

On March 7, 2025, Carl went in for a routine colonoscopy and found that he has colon cancer in his sigmoid colon. The doctor found a tumor 3-4 cm long that was eating its way through the four layers of his large intestine. He removed what he could and ordered a CT w/ contrast. That showed angry lymph nodes in the area just outside the colon near the tumor. He got scheduled for a colon resection surgery to remove the cancer. Surgery happened the day after Easter on April 21st. We were told they removed about a foot of his colon, some lymph nodes and that the surgery went well. He was recovering in Barnes Jewish hospital for 4 days and was sent home on April 24th. We got home and were there for a measly hour and a half when Carl spiked a 104.5° fever! I rushed him to the ER at Alton Memorial where we eventually learned that the resection was starting to come apart, which is called wound dehiscence. There were no rooms available back at Barnes so we ended up waiting 26 hours in the ER and he was eventually moved to a room on the floor at Alton Memorial. On Saturday April 26th, while in Memorial, Carl felt heat and intense pain on the left side of his abdomen and he turned white as a ghost. He instantly spiked a fever and an extremely high heart rate. His colon had completely ruptured! He was rushed by ambulance straight to the OR at Barnes. He had an emergency surgery to clean out the infection from his abdominal cavity and assess the damage to his colon. Part of his colon where the resection was done had died off so they had to remove that and reroute his colon through his abdominal wall and give him a colostomy. This may or may not be permanent. He stayed an additional 11 days in the hospital after that surgery. While still in hospital, the pathology reports from the original surgery came back showing Carl has Stage 3A colon cancer with metastasis to the lymph nodes which will require chemotherapy. On June 6th, Carl will have a port surgically implanted to receive the chemotherapy drugs intravenously and the chemo treatments will begin on June 11th. He will receive at least 3-6 months of treatment and have his chemo infusions every two weeks. He’ll have a portable pump to wear for 2 days after each treatment to continue giving chemo intravenously.

For those of you who don’t know our story, we have the sweetest and most adorable special needs daughter named Gracie, who has a rare genetic condition, osteopenia, hypotonia, developmental delay, autism and an extreme anxiety disorder. Gracie is 18 now, but, cognitively she is a four year old so we recently gained guardianship over her to make sure she has all the help she needs to navigate life and have the best care possible. Gracie had yet another surgery April 1st to remove a bone from her lower right arm to increase mobility and reduce pain and she is healing well. Due to her increasing medical conditions, the health issues I had last year and Carl working out of state, I have not been working so that I could care for Gracie, therefore, Carl has been the sole bread winner. He has been out of work for 6 weeks already and will be out of commission for an undetermined amount of time, provided, he is even allowed to return to work by his employer considering his new and, possibly, life long colostomy bag. They may view him as a liability. This is why we’re, very reluctantly, asking for your help.

All donations will be used toward our basic necessities such as food, house/car payments, power/water bills, gas for our constant doctor appointments and, now, for Carl’s colostomy supplies. We appreciate any support you’re able to give whether financial or emotional!! This has been a trying time for us and Carl is having great difficulty adjusting to his new body. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we keep you in ours!

Thank you for your love and support!

Sincerely,

Kelly and Carl Streubel