As some of you may already know, my brother Sam has been in the hospital since early December. After many tests and days at UW Medicine, what began as debilitating nerve pain and numbness in his extremities, was ultimately diagnosed as Colorectal Cancer. This last month has been incredibly difficult for Sam, Hope, their boys Cooper & Max and our whole family. We wanted to create this page as a place for updates on Sam, as well as provide an option for friends and family to contribute - as we know so many of you have been wanting to help them in any way possible.

 

Here’s Sam’s story up until this point. In November, Sam started experiencing numbness and nerve pain in his hands and feet. It began somewhat minor, but over time increased in severity and started interfering with everyday life. Standing and walking became painful and impossible. After 2 visits to the ER and many tests later, it was determined that he needed to be transferred to UW Medicine as the results were not clearly identifying what was going on. The team of UW nerve specialists continued their testing, including a PET scan - which revealed a mass, and it was confirmed thereafter to be Cancer.

 

Sam has not been able to walk or have use of one of his hands since the beginning of December and will be treated as inpatient until he can walk again. Through all of this and the pain he’s endured, Sam has remained in good spirits with a positive outlook. He was moved to the Oncology Floor and began Radiation and Chemo just before Christmas and will continue for the next month, followed by 6 months of Chemo only and finally surgery. The first few days of his treatment, he has already experienced a little improvement with the nerve pain in his extremities and is making small strides with the help of Physical Therapy. Very encouraging!

 

Sam has quite a journey ahead and so does Hope and their boys. Hope will be spending much of her time with Sam while he is in treatment at UW, with weekends at home in Richland with their kiddos. They are so grateful for all your support, prayers and kind words and we all appreciate your willingness to help.

 

Ben