Tribute to Lindsey Puckett Sr.

Hi, my name is Sarah Henderson and I am Lindsey Puckett's daughter.

 

I am creating this GoFundMe page because many have reached out and asked about how they can help the family or how they can pay their respects. I also wanted it to be informative to anyone that didn't know what had happened.

My dad went through cancer treatment and tests constantly for 1.5 years. This left my mom with an astronomical amount of medical debt ($30,000 alone to TN Oncology) not to mention the most recent surgery and hospital stay.

My dad had no life insurance, no supplement on top of his medicare, and my mother is not of age to qualify for full social security for several more years.

 

I will be giving all donations to my mother to use toward my dad’s medical bills. 

 

Dad's Diagnosis through his Passing into Heaven:

 

Many of you know but some of you do not...and I will summate this as best I can...

In June of 2020 my dad was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Cancer had already metastasized to his brain, bones, adrenal glands, and lymph nodes. Doctors were telling us we would be lucky to have several months.

He immediately entered treatment with rigorous chemotherapy and immunotherapy as well as the 5 masses in his brain being radiated along with a large area of his femur and hip.

We were thrilled to find out that all of the treatment had been pretty successful and had shrunk all of the masses, but the only ones that were completely gone were the ones in his brain.

Dad amazingly fought and stayed on chemotherapy and immunotherapy for 1.5 years.

At the beginning of December 2021, we got a call that he now had 2 new masses in the prefrontal lobes of the brain (turned out later they were radiation necrosis from previous radiation) and they were causing a large amount of edema. The treatment was large dose steroids and to begin prepping for more radiation to the brain.

After being on the steroid for several weeks dad started having severe abdominal pain and finally was in so much pain that on January 1st he went to the hospital around 10:30pm.

At 3:30am we were told that he had a perforated bowel and would need emergency surgery.

Dad had the surgery and they had to remove his entire sigmoid colon and was left with a permanent Colostomy bag.

After surgery dad had major post-operative delirium and could not snap out of it in the hospital. 
He had to stay in the hospital for a little over a week after surgery because his body just did not want to heal.

He also ended up with pneumonia.
His body had become very weak and delirium was not going away in the hospital.

They said he needed to be in a normal space surrounded by family to snap out of it.

He was released from the hospital on January 11th.

The delirium got better once he was at our home and surrounded by loved ones, but so did the reality that his body was not healing.
He decided he was done taking all the meds and began refusing all meds and food and said he did not want to be taken back to the hospital.

We all stayed at my home with him and cared for him 24/7.

 

It shortly became apparent that hospice was the best option so we could keep him free of pain.
Hospice was wonderful and they were able to allow us to keep him very comfortable.

He knew who we were and often told us he loved us.  We know if it were up to his heart he would have stayed with us forever, but his body just wasn't going to let that happen.

He passed away January 20th, 2022 around 10:15am with us right beside him just a couple of days after entering hospice.

 

He was comfortable and at peace at one point before he passed saying,

"Please Lord, place your hand on me and take me home."

 

We hold this close to us and know that he is now in Heaven with a wonderful strong body giving Jesus and his mother a big hug ❤️❤️