Support Roger Coutu's Funeral and Medical Costs

Saying goodbye has to be one of the hardest things anyone has to do. Last night we said goodbye to an incredible, loving, and talented man. That man was my father, Roger Coutu. If you were lucky enough to have met him, you know what I'm talking about when I say how incredible he was. No amount of time could have prepared me for yesterday.

On Christmas eve of 2007, I went looking for and found my biological father. Not because I had a horrible upbringing, but because I had questions, and after having my 1st son Mateo, I wanted to know what medical concerns might arise. It was truly like something out of a hallmark movie. Him and his wife at the time welcomed me and my small family with open arms, and we celebrated Christmas together. I was introduced to so many relatives that night. It was incredible. I even found out that i had a brother! From that day on, we became very close and spent as much time together making memories and making up for lost time.

A few months ago, he was complaining that he was in a lot of pain. He said he just couldn't get comfortable and his legs and back hurt all the time. Several frustrating trip to the hospital yielded no answers. They told him he had sciatica and to do stretchs at home. On June 20th, his partner for the last 13 years called me to tell me that she had to call rescue. She thought he may have been having a heart attack. That would have been a blessing in comparison to what we found was the problem. He was diagnosed with cancer that was malignant, metastatic to the bone. Cancer. Fucking cancer! Head to toe. It started as lung cancer and had spread. He was sent home, and more testing would need to be done to find out how to attack it. They had decided to do the biopsy in his shoulder as it was the easiest cluster of cancer to get to, and scheduled it. On Thursday, he became very confused and agitated. Nancy got him back to the hospital where they found that he had hypercalcemia. The calcium in his bones was leaking out into his bloodstream and poisoning him. They started him on some iv fluids and a medicine to bring down the calcium levels. They still needed to get the biopsy to start treating his cancer, but couldn't until the calcium came down enough. On Saturday they called to tell me that he was going into renal failure and to come back to the hospital as soon as possible. At some point in the night, he developed pneumonia. They said there was nothing they could do. His body was shutting down faster than they could help fix him. He passed peacefully at 10:30 last night with me and Nancy by his side.

I truly thought we had more time. I had started looking into life insurance for terminally ill individuals, to help cover the costs, but ran out of time to get it completed. I'm raising funds to help pay for funeral services and a celebration of life for my dad. Anything we raise over the cost of his services will be used towards his medical bills, as he did not have coverage before the cancer diagnosis. Every little bit helps, and sharing this gofundme page helps as well.

Thank you