Honoring Bret ❤ Family Support

June 2021 would have marked ten years of illness for Bret — ten years of fighting, catching his breath, and then fighting some more. At times the illness progressed slowly. At other times, it came crashing down, forcing Bret and Aura to recalibrate life in monumental ways. In ten years' time Bret underwent: two stem cell transplants, chemo, radiation, two major heart attacks, 9 stents, a hip replacement, multiple hospitalizations, intubation, loss of an immune system, graft versus host disease, progressive loss of lung functioning, and countless other side effects from the myriad of medications. In that same ten years, Bret also married the love of his life, traveled when he could, cultivated a beautiful blog, adopted the most faithful pooch, maintained his home, nurtured his community, and raised the second love of his life — 3-year-old Evie Maeve. Bret lived life, even when life made it excruciatingly hard to live. He touched many, many lives and we will miss him everyday. 

Aura stood by him everyday; through every appointment, consultation, procedure, emergency, second opinion, trial, poke and prod.  Today, Aura is left standing with her amazing family — a beautiful, spunky 3-year-old daughter, and friends and colleagues who dearly love and deeply admire her.

In a moment of mourning we often ask, “What can I do? How can I help?”. Mostly because we’re sincere, but also, if we’re honest, because it’s hard to just sit and grieve.  As Bret and Aura’s community we would like to come together to assist Aura in the difficult task of being a single parent while mourning the loss of her partner. We hope that this fund can relieve the pressure of years of medical bills; pay for continued, safe childcare for Evie; and bolster Evie’s college fund. 

Thank you for you gift. You are supporting a truly wonderful family.

Bret's Blog: https://hoechemo.com/