Mark and family have been close friends of ours for many, many years. Our kids have grown up together, we've celebrated numerous milestones with each other's families and have always been able to count on he and Tina when we needed help with something or wanted advice or even just an excuse to get out of the house and have a couple of drinks. Mark recently underwent surgery to remove his appendix, revealing a rare form of cancer that has spread to his intestines. Mark has been diagnosed with goblet cell carcinoma, an extremely rare and aggressive form of appendiceal cancer. There are many unknowns at this point, but we do know that Mark will undergo surgery soon to remove a large section of his large intestine. He will also likely need to undergo cancer treatments, which we all know will be hard and will extend his time off work. Mark has been the primary source of income for their family and while Kristina does work and plans to continue working, the cost of his treatment is going to be astronomical and being down to one income will be incredibly hard to make ends meet. They have two children, two dogs, a mortgage and all of the usual bills to pay. No one should have to worry about paying the mortgage, or whether or not there is gas in the car, or have to choose between paying the water bill and buying groceries, especially when the focus needs to be on helping Mark fight this disease. I want to support their family any way I can, so I decided to start a go fund me. I don't want Mark to worry about going to work when he's sick. I want Tina and the kids to be able to support Mark during this time without worrying about whether their basic needs are being met. Please consider making a donation, small or large. Any amount will help. Thank You.

7/27 Update from Tina

Surgery went well. The surgeon found nothing scary when he was removing the affected area. He was able to stick to the plan of removing only 30% of the large intestine (basically the entire right side) and the area of the small that shared the blood supply. There was some sticking to the gallbladder and abdominal wall, so extra tissue was removed from those areas to send out to pathology just to be safe. Because of the upcoming holiday, and the "cushy pathology jobs" we probably won't have results until the following week, which is when we'll also figure out what happens next. He'll be in the hospital for a few days and Mark has a very strict request of no visitors, besides myself and the kids, so he can work on getting strong enough to come home. I'm sure he'll get bored though, so feel free to shoot him a text. I'll let everyone know when he's home and up for company. Thank you all again. While I'm not responding to every call, text, or message, I see them and appreciate them immensely. This has just been an exhausting experience for all of us.

7/7 Update from Tina

Stage 3B with lymph node involvement. If we're quiet for a few days, we're just soaking it in and waiting to meet with the oncologist.