Tim has Glioblastoma-Help Keep Him at Home with 24 Hour Care

We're trying to keep Tim, who’s battling aggressive brain cancer, at home where he can enjoy the outdoors he loves so much, but he needs 24-hour care that insurance won't cover. Every donation makes a huge difference.

Tim has always loved being outside. From working in a living history museum to owning his own business restoring old houses he has worked outside in all kinds of weather. That all changed this year on February 26 when after a month of becoming more and more tired, Tim woke up with the most excruciating headache he had ever had. An ambulance ride to the hospital, followed by a CT scan showed a buildup of fluid and a mass in his brain. What followed was a two month period of time spent inside the hospital undergoing a biopsy which confirmed Tim's diagnosis-- an aggressive grade 4 glioblastoma or brain cancer, surgery to remove the tumor and weeks in a rehabilitation hospital. His family and friends tried to get him outside in a wheelchair in the sunshine whenever we could. Tim hated being stuck inside in often windowless rooms. He was so happy to finally come home on April 20 and prepare for a course of radiation and chemotherapy.

To be able to sit in the backyard in the sunshine with his dog was all that had kept Tim going through all that time stuck inside of medical institutions.

The month of May brought the start of the radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Unfortunately, the treatments weakened Tim to the point that he was again hospitalized and an MRI showed that the tumor had started to regrow and spread in his brain. He came home from the hospital on May 18 needing 24 hour care. Several days later he discontinued radiation and chemo and started receiving hospice services.

Since May 18, Tim's wife and son, with the help of family and friends, have been his sole caregivers providing the 24 hour care that he needs. As Tim has become weaker, it has become harder and harder to provide the at home care that he needs. He struggles to stand and to walk a step or two with assistance takes all the energy that he has.

We want to keep Tim home and ask for your help so that we can hire paid help to work with us to provide Tim with 24 hour care that he needs and keep him at home. Insurance will pay for care in a skilled nursing facility but 24 hour care at home is not covered. Private pay care at home is expensive. Although Tim was able to collect from the state's paid medical leave program, he has now collected payments for the maximum number of weeks and payments have ended. His wife continues to work part time.

Thank you for your help and support as we work to care for and keep Tim at home.