Support Ryan Drummond's Fight Against Cancer

What cancer cannot do:

Cancer cannot cripple love. Cancer cannot shatter hope or corrode faith. It cannot eat away peace or destroy confidence. Cancer cannot kill friendships. Cancer cannot shut out memories or silence courage.

Cancer cannot do any of those things, but it can cause a great deal of anguish and hardship on the ones it touches most closely. A colleague of mine and friend of ours used to be a professional fighter (20 years of competing in boxing, JiuJitsu, and professional MMA!), but that doesn’t even come close to the fight he and his family are currently facing.

Ryan Drummond had a great sales job where he made really good money. However, time with his beautiful wife, Vida, and their 6 children (+ an adorable 2 year old that they have taken in and are guardians of) was limited. Ryan took a leap of faith and came to Pierre Moran Middle School to try his hand at teaching middle school PE! Ryan found his calling and touched the lives of many kids who were constantly seen holding out a fist when they saw him coming down the hallway to get their fist bump. Teaching - especially when on an emergency license - does not pay well, but the big payoff for Ryan was the time with his family, so it was worth the cut in pay. Then everything came to a screeching halt with a very serious colon cancer diagnosis last spring. Ryan needs to go through 12 brutal rounds of chemotherapy (he currently has 9 to go). The chemo has been hitting him hard and his doctor has told him he cannot work. Financially, cancer is hurting this family really hard. With the huge cut in pay as a teacher on an emergency contract, Ryan had to make the difficult decision to not get insurance, so they are now faced with thousands of dollars in medical bills. Even though they now have Medicaid, they still have medical bills and prescription costs along with the day to day living expenses (mortgage, electricity, gas, food…) that have become very difficult to manage. Their vehicles are both older and not running well either. Trying to manage the day-to-day of life on the income from Vida’s home daycare is adding incredible stress on this family. Ryan shared with me that his biggest stress right now is not the treatments and the brutal side effects, but the inability to make ends meet.

Ryan and Vida are not the type that want to ask for help, so the fact that they are acknowledging a need is pretty significant. You may not know Ryan personally, but this is a man who is, according to his mother and his wife, a super devoted father and husband. Even when cancer is dragging him down, he pushes through the nausea and the pain and the fatigue to play with the kids or tuck them in at night. He does everything he can to be at their sporting events or extracurricular activities no matter how awful he feels. He will tell you he is okay so that you will not worry or stress about him. His wife shared with me that there are “so many good things to say about him and absolutely no bad.” She cannot imagine not having Ryan in her life! His mother shared that when she looks at Ryan, her heart warms because of the kind, caring husband and father he is. In those same moments, her heart also cries for his struggles. She loves her son and this is breaking her heart.

Ryan needs to focus on fighting this cancer - not stressing about making ends meet. Please consider helping this family! Even if you are unable to make a monetary donation, prayers are always appreciated! Any type ofl donations are greatly appreciated!