October 2025 Update:

We wanted to share an update on Shawn and his family’s journey. As many of you know, Shawn has been bravely battling cancer for the past three years. Despite his strength and determination, his health challenges have made it impossible for him to return to work. Shawn is back in chemotherapy as of September as the tumor has continued to grow and is once again causing significant pain and difficulty with eating. With the chemotherapy, Shawn is very low energy has lots of background nausea and a bit of neuropathy.

During this time, his wife Kate has carried an incredible weight — caring for Shawn, supporting their two beautiful daughters, Nora and Freya, and doing everything she can to keep their family afloat. She’s been doing it all with grace and love, but the financial strain continues to grow as medical costs, daily expenses, and the needs of two young children add up.

Your generosity has already made a tremendous difference — helping keep a roof over their heads, food on the table, and hope alive. But the road ahead remains difficult, and the family continues to need our community’s support.

Every donation, share, and message of encouragement means the world to them. It reminds Shawn, Kate, Nora, and Freya that they are not alone — that their community stands with them in love and solidarity.

If you’re able, please consider donating again or sharing their story to help lighten their burden. Together, we can give them a bit more peace and stability during this incredibly hard time.

Story from 2023:

The Hart family needs some love right now. As some of you may know, Shawn is already a cancer survivor but is, unfortunately, battling a new aggressive cancer. After nearly a year of mysterious and unsolvable pain, Shawn and his medical team discovered a large adenocarcinoma tumor deep in his abdomen and a neuroendocrine tumor on his pancreas in September 2022. Two different types of cancer! The large tumor is causing significant and unbearable pain, problems with digestion, and pressure on his organs. Shawn has undergone three different biopsies and countless procedures as his medical team tries to diagnose the exact type of cancer related to the large tumor and to determine the best treatment plan. Treatment will include chemo and potentially radiation. The location of the large tumor makes it impossible to remove.

Shawn is a father of 2 beautiful girls, a husband to Kate, and an entrepreneur, coffee-roaster, photographer, outdoor enthusiast and web designer living in The Columbia River Gorge. Because of the unbearable pain caused by his tumors and the numerous medical appointments and trips to Portland to see specialists, Shawn has not been able to work for over a month. The medical bills from ER visits, multiple doctor and specialist appointments, the treatments yet to come, and ongoing living expenses are causing their family immense stress and heartache.

The path Shawn, Kate, Nora and Freya find themselves on is one no family should have to take, and we ask for your continued love, support, thoughts and prayers for them right now. Please consider donating; any amount is very appreciated. All funds collected will be used to pay for the costs associated with Shawn's care and treatment and support the family's other financial needs during this difficult time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love and support of the Harts.