Support Larry's Battle Against Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer

My dad has been going to the same barber since I was 5 years old – religiously. Every other Saturday for the past 30 years to maintain that GQ look that we all know and love.

When my dad was diagnosed last year with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer and started the chemotherapy treatment, in the back of our minds we knew that the time would come when the haircuts would stop. BUT, in true Larry Fields fashion, he was stubborn. And while he continued to get his hair cut – religiously, every other week – the time came where his barber, Rick, said maybe it’s time to let it go. Of course my dad said no (because, of course). It didn’t matter that the chemotherapy was darkening his tongue and fingertips, that he didn’t have any energy to do the things he used to do, that he couldn’t eat cold foods, or that he had to wear a glove on one hand because his circulation was so severely affected. The hair stayed. Even though he hasn’t been able to go to work in months, or mow the lawn, or wash the cars, or take long walks. The hair stayed.

So imagine my surprise when my sister, Lauren, calls me and my dad is completely bald. Sir, what?! And to be told that he cut it himself on a random Sunday when everyone was out of the house? I cried when I got off the phone with Lauren because it meant that my dad had let go of the one thing that he had any control over during this whole process. That he had to acknowledge that, yeah, things are changing and there is a loss that comes with cancer that takes little by little until you have to fully let things go.

Cancer sucks. They’re right about that. Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer is terminal which means it really sucks because it means there’s no cure and, through all of the chemotherapy and treatments, eventually my dad will lose more than just his hair.

And so for that, we need help. Because, even though my dad has been fortunate to have worked for a company that has provided assistance through much of this process, those benefits only go so far and the bills don’t stop just because cancer starts. So we are asking for help because it really does take a village. ❤️