Dear Friends and Family,

On December 31, 1999 - yep New Years Eve of the millennium, I married my best friend and soon to be an amazing father to our first son. That was the start of our family and the beautiful yet chaotic life we would create together.

As we celebrate our 26th anniversary today (12/31/25) - I look back at our wedding pics and it brings me to tears of where we are today. Never did I imagine that Troy and I would be fighting for his life with a horrible stage 4 brain cancer called Glioblastoma.

I would not have pictured our lives being turned so horribly upside down on November 5, 2024 and the devasting news we would get months later with that diagnosis. Never would I imagine that I would spend countless hours, days, weeks, and months searching for ways to "cure" my husband or at least find ways to stop the spread of this evil cancer. Only to be told recently that the tumor has grown too deep into his brain and is now inoperable and growing.

Troy has bravely been through two brain surgeries, fatigued by weeks of chemo and radiation, and then told to "go find a trial" - which we tried but ran into many obstacles and setbacks. The worst part is that Troy needed to be put on medication (Avastin) to get him off the horrible steroids (Dex) because they were eating away his muscles and causing him serious side effects - almost worst than the tumor! The really unfortunate part is the medication that he needed to stop his brain from swelling which caused him to have seizures, disqualified Troy from any trials.

***01/26/26 UPDATE:

We received a phone call last week that shocked us completely! A trial called the ANKTIVA TRIAL at the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine in LA, California has opened up their trial for patients who are on Avastin! We are flying out this week on Wednesday to see if Troy qualifies! This could be so amazing for Troy so please keep praying! When (not if - putting it out into the universe!) Troy gets in this trial, we will have to fly back and forth to LA a couple times a month for treatment and this will definitely be expensive so we really could use all the help possible! If he doesn't get into the trial, then back to the original plan to go to Germany as outlined below. But we are praying for this trial! It has such great data! We will update as we know! ***

While Troy can only be offered what is considered Standard of Care (SOC) in the U.S. he can get different treatments in other places. I have learned that in other countries they have what's called "Compassionate Care" and offer the medication used in trials - but obviously, for a price. In Germany they have a Dendritic Cell Therapy that would take Troy's blood and modify it to turn his immune system on to find and fight the cancer. It has pretty good data and we believe it is worth trying to extend Troy's life.

The cost for this treatment alone - not including any travel expenses - is $18,800 Euros which is approximately $22,062.46 in US dollars! (And this is one of the "cheaper" vaccines. There is another that is over $120,000!!! but there Troy does not fit the qualifications for that one.)

We are asking for money to put towards the cost of treatment in Germany. If Troy does not go or receive that treatment, we will refund the money if wanted or put towards Troy's medical bills. (Those ambulance rides are costly!) We never wanted to ask for money but recently we had to deplete our savings for a new well at our house and all of Troy's other medical expenses and traveling have been costly. Our parents have been gracious enough to help us tremendously in the past year and we can't thank them enough for that! But we decided to reach out to everyone because Troy has done so much for so many and a lot of you have asked us how you can help - well here is how.

So please, if you Troy has helped you in any way, let him know your appreciation by helping him get a treatment that could extend his time with his family and loved ones. Any amount helps, and if this treatment does not happen, we will gladly refund the donations.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those who have already donated. Please know we don't ask this lightly and we appreciate every dollar, every prayer, and all the messages and love we receive.

Have a safe and blessed 2026!

With love and gratitude,

Tania, Troy, and Family