The Doug English Cancer Fund
Donation protected
Hello everyone,
Doug English was a fellow San Diego police officer whom I worked with many years ago. Doug is always someone I looked up to. He was always kind and professional to everyone. Doug is also very family oriented, as well as being an animal lover. Here is his story I received from his lovely wife, Debbie:
Unknown to many, our dad, grandfather, mentor, and friend James “Doug” English has been privately battling Stage 4 Pancreatic/Ampullary cancer for over a year now. In November of 2019, Doug started to feel under the weather. He went to see his physician, where they said he was coming down with the flu.
After several weeks of being sick and not improving, we knew something worse was happening. One morning in mid-December 2019, he woke up and was completely jaundice all over his body. He was taken to the emergency room and admitted. They did some tests and found out something was blocking his bile ducts. They did an exploratory procedure to see what was blocking, which was when they found the tumor. It was just a couple of days later that we got the diagnosis that he had a very rare and
aggressive form of cancer.
At this point, they believed his cancer was only stage 1 and there were procedures that could be done that would have possibly helped. But in January of 2020, they did a CT scan and learned that the cancer had started spreading and was actually stage 4, and these procedures could no longer help. He after several other surgeries he started chemotherapy shortly after this, and
although it was tough on him, he continued to run his business and live life without letting it show.
Halfway through 2020, they started him on a new, stronger form of chemotherapy, which was even tougher on his body. In December of 2020, Kaiser hospital decided they were no longer going to treat his cancer or treat him in any capacity, essentially giving up on him. They stated that putting him on hospice was his only option.
We do not feel Doug is done fighting and would like to seek out second opinions and additional care to help prolong his life. Kaiser will not cover any second opinions or further treatments, so we must pay for this out of pocket. All funds that are raised will directly go towards Doug’s hospital bills, treatments, and care.
For those who are unable to give, we ask that you share this story and pray for Doug and his family. Doug has spent his entire life helping and saving people. We are hoping to get him help when he needs it most. Thank you in advance for your kindness for the English Family.
Doug's Background:
From the young age of just 12 years old, Doug knew he wanted to be a San Diego Police Officer. He used to ride all around the local area on his bike and talk to the officers. As soon as he was out of 7th grade, he joined the SDPD Police Explorer Post 250 and began volunteering with them. When he turned 16, he joined the El Cajon PD Cadets, and he was able to get more field experience with reserve and regular Officers. He joined the ECPD Reserves when he turned 21 years old. He was laid off from his day job, but
he saw this as a great opportunity. He went through the 4th Regional Police Academy as an Open Enrollee with a “handshake” promise from SDPD that he would be hired as soon as their hiring freeze was over.
He joined the San Diego Police Department on August 18th, 1981, where after his Phase Training, he was assigned to Central Division. After about seven years with Central, he transferred over to Traffic Division, where he spent the next 18 years. During his time there, he worked with Air Support Unit, and was then promoted to Sergeant and transferred to Southern Patrol Division, where he spent two years. He was then moved back over the Traffic Division where he served as AIB Sergeant and he finished his career there, retiring in October of 2013.
In 1997 he wondered why the SDPD did not have a museum. He approached another Officer and together they formed the San Diego Police Historical Association. He served a SDPHA President for several years before moving on to other projects. Today the SDPHA has a 4000+ square foot museum and one of the largest historical police vehicle fleets in the U.S.
After retiring and spending some well-deserved time off relaxing with his wife, Debbie, and his family, he decided it was time to pursue another interest he always had, flying airplanes. He joined the Coastal Flyer and the Commemorative Air Force where he served as a Wing Safety Officer, and later spend four years as Wing Commander of Air Group One, the local wing of the Commemorative Air Force. He became a crew member on CAF’s B-29 Superfortress based in Ft. Worth and spent part of the Air Show seasons touring the USA and Canada for four years, where he was qualified as Lead Scanner position as well as a trainer.
As if this was not enough, since the late 1990’s, Doug has also worked as an accident reconstructionist and analyst, being a mentor and teacher for many over the years to come. In 2000, he started his own private business by the name of James D English and Associates. Over the years he has taught countless Collision Reconstruction classes. Several years later, he started doing Crash Data Retrieval work, which includes imaging data out of vehicles and analyzing it. He became a mentor in this field, and one of only
a few people certified to teach courses on this topic. To this day, he is still running this business, and training his daughter Amanda all he knows so she can take over his business.
Doug's Amazing Family:
His life has not been all work, though. He has been married to his wife, Debbie, for over 30 years. Debbie worked for many years in the Emergency Room while Doug was a Police Officer, and they still managed to raise six wonderful kids together. They also have several grandchildren, and Doug loves every moment he gets to spend with them all.
Their oldest, Stephen has a very successful career as a foreman in construction, and he is married with two sons, Trysten and Brody.
The second oldest, Sarah, has a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering, which has led to a career that she has excelled at and loves. She is married and gave Doug his first grand-daughter, Haylee.
His third child, Matthew, has always loved cars and all things automotive, and this landed him as the General Manager of a tire and service company.
Next comes Bryan, who has worked for many years in cable industry, installing video and cable systems all throughout the country. Bryan is married and has two stepchildren named Trinity and Malakai, who lovingly refer to Doug as their “Ducky”. Bryan is also expecting Doug’s second granddaughter later this year.
Number five is Amanda, who has spent many years working in the animal industry, training dogs, and finding animals their forever homes. She has also spent the last couple of years learning all about accident reconstruction with Doug and is planning to take over his business once he retires. She is soon to be married, but only has Doug’s grand-dogs for now.
The youngest is Megan, who is currently in school, studying to become a Veterinary Technician.
Doug and Debbie also have three dogs that they love almost as much as their human children, Tazer, a terrier mix, and Gunner and Kimber, who are both German Shepherds.
This diagnosis has hugely impacted and devastated the English family and will forever change their lives. We want to try everything we can to keep Doug here with us as long as possible. Doug has impacted countless lives over the years, and we are sure many people share the same sentiment as we do. Thank you for taking the time to read this. We hope you can share our story with others as well.
Doug English was a fellow San Diego police officer whom I worked with many years ago. Doug is always someone I looked up to. He was always kind and professional to everyone. Doug is also very family oriented, as well as being an animal lover. Here is his story I received from his lovely wife, Debbie:
Unknown to many, our dad, grandfather, mentor, and friend James “Doug” English has been privately battling Stage 4 Pancreatic/Ampullary cancer for over a year now. In November of 2019, Doug started to feel under the weather. He went to see his physician, where they said he was coming down with the flu.
After several weeks of being sick and not improving, we knew something worse was happening. One morning in mid-December 2019, he woke up and was completely jaundice all over his body. He was taken to the emergency room and admitted. They did some tests and found out something was blocking his bile ducts. They did an exploratory procedure to see what was blocking, which was when they found the tumor. It was just a couple of days later that we got the diagnosis that he had a very rare and
aggressive form of cancer.
At this point, they believed his cancer was only stage 1 and there were procedures that could be done that would have possibly helped. But in January of 2020, they did a CT scan and learned that the cancer had started spreading and was actually stage 4, and these procedures could no longer help. He after several other surgeries he started chemotherapy shortly after this, and
although it was tough on him, he continued to run his business and live life without letting it show.
Halfway through 2020, they started him on a new, stronger form of chemotherapy, which was even tougher on his body. In December of 2020, Kaiser hospital decided they were no longer going to treat his cancer or treat him in any capacity, essentially giving up on him. They stated that putting him on hospice was his only option.
We do not feel Doug is done fighting and would like to seek out second opinions and additional care to help prolong his life. Kaiser will not cover any second opinions or further treatments, so we must pay for this out of pocket. All funds that are raised will directly go towards Doug’s hospital bills, treatments, and care.
For those who are unable to give, we ask that you share this story and pray for Doug and his family. Doug has spent his entire life helping and saving people. We are hoping to get him help when he needs it most. Thank you in advance for your kindness for the English Family.
Doug's Background:
From the young age of just 12 years old, Doug knew he wanted to be a San Diego Police Officer. He used to ride all around the local area on his bike and talk to the officers. As soon as he was out of 7th grade, he joined the SDPD Police Explorer Post 250 and began volunteering with them. When he turned 16, he joined the El Cajon PD Cadets, and he was able to get more field experience with reserve and regular Officers. He joined the ECPD Reserves when he turned 21 years old. He was laid off from his day job, but
he saw this as a great opportunity. He went through the 4th Regional Police Academy as an Open Enrollee with a “handshake” promise from SDPD that he would be hired as soon as their hiring freeze was over.
He joined the San Diego Police Department on August 18th, 1981, where after his Phase Training, he was assigned to Central Division. After about seven years with Central, he transferred over to Traffic Division, where he spent the next 18 years. During his time there, he worked with Air Support Unit, and was then promoted to Sergeant and transferred to Southern Patrol Division, where he spent two years. He was then moved back over the Traffic Division where he served as AIB Sergeant and he finished his career there, retiring in October of 2013.
In 1997 he wondered why the SDPD did not have a museum. He approached another Officer and together they formed the San Diego Police Historical Association. He served a SDPHA President for several years before moving on to other projects. Today the SDPHA has a 4000+ square foot museum and one of the largest historical police vehicle fleets in the U.S.
After retiring and spending some well-deserved time off relaxing with his wife, Debbie, and his family, he decided it was time to pursue another interest he always had, flying airplanes. He joined the Coastal Flyer and the Commemorative Air Force where he served as a Wing Safety Officer, and later spend four years as Wing Commander of Air Group One, the local wing of the Commemorative Air Force. He became a crew member on CAF’s B-29 Superfortress based in Ft. Worth and spent part of the Air Show seasons touring the USA and Canada for four years, where he was qualified as Lead Scanner position as well as a trainer.
As if this was not enough, since the late 1990’s, Doug has also worked as an accident reconstructionist and analyst, being a mentor and teacher for many over the years to come. In 2000, he started his own private business by the name of James D English and Associates. Over the years he has taught countless Collision Reconstruction classes. Several years later, he started doing Crash Data Retrieval work, which includes imaging data out of vehicles and analyzing it. He became a mentor in this field, and one of only
a few people certified to teach courses on this topic. To this day, he is still running this business, and training his daughter Amanda all he knows so she can take over his business.
Doug's Amazing Family:
His life has not been all work, though. He has been married to his wife, Debbie, for over 30 years. Debbie worked for many years in the Emergency Room while Doug was a Police Officer, and they still managed to raise six wonderful kids together. They also have several grandchildren, and Doug loves every moment he gets to spend with them all.
Their oldest, Stephen has a very successful career as a foreman in construction, and he is married with two sons, Trysten and Brody.
The second oldest, Sarah, has a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering, which has led to a career that she has excelled at and loves. She is married and gave Doug his first grand-daughter, Haylee.
His third child, Matthew, has always loved cars and all things automotive, and this landed him as the General Manager of a tire and service company.
Next comes Bryan, who has worked for many years in cable industry, installing video and cable systems all throughout the country. Bryan is married and has two stepchildren named Trinity and Malakai, who lovingly refer to Doug as their “Ducky”. Bryan is also expecting Doug’s second granddaughter later this year.
Number five is Amanda, who has spent many years working in the animal industry, training dogs, and finding animals their forever homes. She has also spent the last couple of years learning all about accident reconstruction with Doug and is planning to take over his business once he retires. She is soon to be married, but only has Doug’s grand-dogs for now.
The youngest is Megan, who is currently in school, studying to become a Veterinary Technician.
Doug and Debbie also have three dogs that they love almost as much as their human children, Tazer, a terrier mix, and Gunner and Kimber, who are both German Shepherds.
This diagnosis has hugely impacted and devastated the English family and will forever change their lives. We want to try everything we can to keep Doug here with us as long as possible. Doug has impacted countless lives over the years, and we are sure many people share the same sentiment as we do. Thank you for taking the time to read this. We hope you can share our story with others as well.
Organizer and beneficiary
Dee Cirino Massey
Organizer
Lakeside, CA
Debbie English
Beneficiary
