Hello, I'm the daughter of Tony and Amy Swanson. This is way out of mine or my family's comfort zone, reaching out for help like this, but I'm desperately asking for our family, friends, and community's help. My dad Tony was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in January of this year.

Here is just a little bit about my parents: Tony was raised in Lacon but has lived in Sparland for many years now. He graduated from Mid-County, class of 1985. He and my mom, Amy (Bryden), have been married for 36 years. My dad has worked for the same company, JT Fennell, for over 30 years now. He has always worked his butt off to provide for his family. He was able to allow my mom to be a stay-at-home mom for many years and raise my brother and me.

On January 11th, 2025, my dad was taken to the ER, and after some tests, they found a mass in his lung. He was admitted, and further tests were run to find out it was small cell carcinoma - an aggressive, rapidly spreading lung cancer. My mom immediately started making calls, and they started getting a plan together. They decided to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for a second opinion. It was there they agreed the best plan of action to give him the best chance possible would be to start chemo here in Peoria at Illinois Cancer Care and then return to Mayo Clinic due to their more aggressive approach of radiation twice a day for 5 weeks. But after 6 rounds of chemo, the mass in his lung still isn't quite small enough to do radiation on, so he is now doing two more rounds of chemo to try and shrink it more.

Chemo has taken its toll and come with complications. He's had numerous hospital stays since January, the longest one being about 2 weeks. He's currently at the University of Chicago because it's a little closer to home than Mayo Clinic, and we need to try and get these complications under control and get him more stable.

My parents have never needed any kind of help or assistance, but you are never prepared for something like this. My mom has been off work due to back surgery, and my dad has been unable to work since this all started. My brother and I have helped when and where we can, but the burden of all this has started to become too much for them, especially after the cost of travel, whether it be to Mayo, or Peoria multiple times a week, and now to Chicago. If it was up to my dad, he'd never agree to this, but as their daughter, I can't help but try anything to lighten the load for them in this very uncertain time.

Thank you!

There will be an account set up here in the next few days at the First National Bank of Lacon if you prefer to donate that way rather than a GoFundMe.