My nieces have written this on behalf of their father, my brother-in-law:

My father is Coach John McCarver. He’s dedicated his life to the service of teenagers for 59 years, serving as a teacher, coach, and director of football operations. He’s taught and coached at Tarrant, Midfield, Pleasant Grove Baptist, Faith Academy and Shelby Academy, Pittman Middle, Jess Lanier, and served as Director of Football Operations at Pelham and Thompson High Schools. Alongside his work at school, he’s served as Sunday School teacher, FCA sponsor, youth activities leader, and choir member. Everywhere he goes, students and former sports players find him and come up to him, excited to hug him and shake his hand, to talk to him and tell him what they’re doing. Not all of us had teachers like that. The ones who genuinely cared about us; not just as students, but as people. The types of teachers who got us through the awkward years of elementary and high school. The ones you want to approach years later when you see them around town. John McCarver is that teacher, that coach. The one who dearly loves his students and student athletes. He wanted to be the kind of person in a kid’s life that he never had in his own, so he became a teacher and coach to provide that.

Life brings its challenges, though.

My father is very, very sick. He’s been in gradually declining health for several years now, but this is the kind of sick that will end his time with us. He has a vicious type of cancer called Merkel Cell Carcinoma. It’s a very painful, rare, and aggressive cancer.

We received the worst of the news three days before Christmas, learning exactly how evil this cancer truly is and what the odds of survival are. On January 27, 2025, Dad began an intense seven week course of radiation. We had such hope that the radiation therapy had worked.

On July 16, 2025, we learned that the cancer had metastasized into several lymph nodes, his lower abdomen, and into his kidneys. All hope of survival was suddenly gone. While his oncologists have a game plan to buy Dad time, my father will have to suffer a great deal in order to have it. We do not know how much time this plan can give us. It is up to the nature of Merkel Cell Carcinoma to decide how fast it will spread to other tissues, while it is up to our Heavenly Father to decide when to call Dad Home.

If you know my father, then you know that he is a fighter. We’ve been through some extremely scary surgeries and health problems, including two heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, and more. We are praying that his fighting spirit will help in buying us more of this precious time.

CALL TO ACTION FOR THE COMMUNITY:

This is where I struggle to write about why we need your help, and so very much of it. Our family is experiencing extreme financial hardship. Teachers do not make a great deal of money, and my father and mother, Lauren McCarver, are both retired teachers. A cost-of-living raise has not been issued to retired teachers in Alabama since 2007. Additionally, it is extremely expensive to have health problems. Because of my father’s health, he simply could not afford whole life insurance. We are in terrible danger of losing everything. Our house has been mortgaged several times and is nowhere close to being paid off. We are covered in medical bills.

This nightmare is further complicated by mine and my sister’s health. She and I were young when we were both diagnosed with dysautonomia (a condition affecting the autonomic nervous system). Because of debilitating chronic illnesses, we cannot solve this problem without your help. You see, when we lose Dad, our mother can’t simply come and live with one of us. We, as a family, are all we have.

As things stand right now, when my father is no longer able to maintain his retirement job in football operations at Thompson High School, we will lose the ability to pay our mortgage. The very least my father deserves is to spend this remaining time in peace in his own bed, in his own home, surrounded by the people who love him most, free from worry.

Your donations will help us pay our mortgage until we are able to sell our house, along with helping to pay our increasing medical debt. We need every dime to ensure our family’s safety.

We are calling on Dad's former students, student athletes, and colleagues to help us spread the word. Please share our GoFundMe to your social media, to your friend and church groups. Please consider making a donation.

Please, I need your help so much. There isn’t much I won’t do for the people I love the most in this world. And I love my father and my family with all my heart.

Kelley McCarver

Kasey McCarver