Help Joe Garrison Fight Cancer
Donation protected
Why Joe needs help
Two weeks ago, Joe Garrison was diagnosed with late stage Colorectal Cancer.
He’s going to fight it. That fight is part mental and part financial.
The cost of the fight is $35,000.
We need your help.
My wife Tia and I have set up this “Go fund Me” account in Joe’s name. Any amount will help.
In the interim, a dear friend has graciously offered to pre-finance Joe’s immediate treatment which includes chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumor before an eventual extensive surgery.
Joe is presently in Kauala Lumpu Malaysia undergoing his first chemo and radiation treatments under inpatient care.
It has taken many of us to convince Mr. Garrison to allow me to write this letter and set up this fund.
My friend is too humble to ask this of you. I am too proud of him not to plead with you. That’s what friends do.
A little about Joe
Joe was born in Niagara Falls February 26, 1959 and grew up in western New York in the small farming town of Akron. He graduated (almost) in 1977 and left home for New Orleans where for two plus years he worked off shore on the oil rigs. He departed Louisiana on a Motorcycle adventure traveling across North America, landing in Oregon around 1980.
In Oregon, he began working in the wood products industry. Employed by Bohemia Lumber, he worked his way up from pulling green chain in the saw mills to Shift Foreman to earning a position in the Environmental Compliance organization of Bohemia in 1993. After the sale of Bohemia to Willamette Industries, Joe started full time at Oregon State University where he graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Geology in 1996.
While living in Oregon Joe became involved in The Oregon Country Fair as a member of the Fire Crew. Many of us know him from there. And boy do we have some stories to tell. Most of which should not be transcribed on these pages. Many great friendships were fostered during this time at the fair and continue to this day. Mine only one of several.
Joe went on to work using his degrees running eco-risk assessment around the Western US and was an environmental consultant for a plant test laboratory in the Corvallis area. This led to an opportunity to work overseas as an onsite project manager for an eco-risk assessment at a large copper-gold mining company in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. During this time, he traveled extensively around Asia and when the project finished he started his graduate studies in Tasmania, Australia.
Joe landed in Cambodia in 2002 and as he describes it, “Loved the country and culture, and loved the Wild West feel of a country coming back after being set back 50 years by the Khmer Rouge era following the Vietnam War. It felt like a place full of adventure and potential opportunity.”
He began a new career working as a field Biologist and Photographer for the Mekong River Commission and as a contract Photographer. The latter he excelled at. His many works were published including a book, The Living Mekong , co-published with The World Wildlife Fund. He has since had a fairly successful freelance photography business around SE Asia while basing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
It’s during this time in Cambodia that he met a wonderful lady named Nguyen Thi Hoang, nicknamed Wan. One of the incredible gifts that came out of their relationship was the adoption of a little girl named Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, nicknamed Hogan Mi (means Hoang’s daughter). She is now a 10.5 year-old beautiful, intelligent little girl attending international school in Phnom Phen, and means the world to Joe.
I credit the love Joe has for these two women as the reason he is allowing me to write this letter. I believe that Joe is unconcerned for his own fate… but is terrified for the future of his family.
Joe’s Friendship
Acquaintances are easy. Coworkers are easy. Family is well, family. But in this world, true friends are hard. Hard to find and challenging to maintain.
A true friend will always be there for you. They will be supportive and brutally honest when you need it. They know you, your strengths and weaknesses. They know what makes you thrive and what you’re scared of. Sometimes they are with you every day and sometimes you don’t see them for years.
I know Joe would come running if I called.
True friends aren’t the ones who make problems disappear. True friends don’t disappear when you’re facing problems.
Joe is that kind of friend.
I have been blessed to know him for over two decades.
We have been roommates, travel companions, best men for each other at our respective weddings. We have been together through cancer, divorce, the birth of children… life.
He has always been there for me.
As a two-time cancer survivor, I know some of the feelings Joe is going through; anxiety, anger, confusion. Fear.
Cancer is a cold hearted nasty Bitch. I hate her sooo very much.
I would venture that many of you are survivors yourself. And all of you have been touched in some way by Cancer in your life.
I miss you (enter name here). We all have one or more names to fill in.
As a Paramedic and Firefighter for over 20 years I have seen and dealt with much pain and suffering. Every bad call takes its toll. But occasionally a call or a person changes the equation of suffering.
That equation is simply to help.
I have a motto that I adopted long ago while undergoing Chemotherapy.
“Whatever you do today is important…Because you exchange a day of your life for it”
Thank you for your help.
No amount is too small. No prayer too big.
Todd Newcomer
Two weeks ago, Joe Garrison was diagnosed with late stage Colorectal Cancer.
He’s going to fight it. That fight is part mental and part financial.
The cost of the fight is $35,000.
We need your help.
My wife Tia and I have set up this “Go fund Me” account in Joe’s name. Any amount will help.
In the interim, a dear friend has graciously offered to pre-finance Joe’s immediate treatment which includes chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumor before an eventual extensive surgery.
Joe is presently in Kauala Lumpu Malaysia undergoing his first chemo and radiation treatments under inpatient care.
It has taken many of us to convince Mr. Garrison to allow me to write this letter and set up this fund.
My friend is too humble to ask this of you. I am too proud of him not to plead with you. That’s what friends do.
A little about Joe
Joe was born in Niagara Falls February 26, 1959 and grew up in western New York in the small farming town of Akron. He graduated (almost) in 1977 and left home for New Orleans where for two plus years he worked off shore on the oil rigs. He departed Louisiana on a Motorcycle adventure traveling across North America, landing in Oregon around 1980.
In Oregon, he began working in the wood products industry. Employed by Bohemia Lumber, he worked his way up from pulling green chain in the saw mills to Shift Foreman to earning a position in the Environmental Compliance organization of Bohemia in 1993. After the sale of Bohemia to Willamette Industries, Joe started full time at Oregon State University where he graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Geology in 1996.
While living in Oregon Joe became involved in The Oregon Country Fair as a member of the Fire Crew. Many of us know him from there. And boy do we have some stories to tell. Most of which should not be transcribed on these pages. Many great friendships were fostered during this time at the fair and continue to this day. Mine only one of several.
Joe went on to work using his degrees running eco-risk assessment around the Western US and was an environmental consultant for a plant test laboratory in the Corvallis area. This led to an opportunity to work overseas as an onsite project manager for an eco-risk assessment at a large copper-gold mining company in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. During this time, he traveled extensively around Asia and when the project finished he started his graduate studies in Tasmania, Australia.
Joe landed in Cambodia in 2002 and as he describes it, “Loved the country and culture, and loved the Wild West feel of a country coming back after being set back 50 years by the Khmer Rouge era following the Vietnam War. It felt like a place full of adventure and potential opportunity.”
He began a new career working as a field Biologist and Photographer for the Mekong River Commission and as a contract Photographer. The latter he excelled at. His many works were published including a book, The Living Mekong , co-published with The World Wildlife Fund. He has since had a fairly successful freelance photography business around SE Asia while basing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
It’s during this time in Cambodia that he met a wonderful lady named Nguyen Thi Hoang, nicknamed Wan. One of the incredible gifts that came out of their relationship was the adoption of a little girl named Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, nicknamed Hogan Mi (means Hoang’s daughter). She is now a 10.5 year-old beautiful, intelligent little girl attending international school in Phnom Phen, and means the world to Joe.
I credit the love Joe has for these two women as the reason he is allowing me to write this letter. I believe that Joe is unconcerned for his own fate… but is terrified for the future of his family.
Joe’s Friendship
Acquaintances are easy. Coworkers are easy. Family is well, family. But in this world, true friends are hard. Hard to find and challenging to maintain.
A true friend will always be there for you. They will be supportive and brutally honest when you need it. They know you, your strengths and weaknesses. They know what makes you thrive and what you’re scared of. Sometimes they are with you every day and sometimes you don’t see them for years.
I know Joe would come running if I called.
True friends aren’t the ones who make problems disappear. True friends don’t disappear when you’re facing problems.
Joe is that kind of friend.
I have been blessed to know him for over two decades.
We have been roommates, travel companions, best men for each other at our respective weddings. We have been together through cancer, divorce, the birth of children… life.
He has always been there for me.
As a two-time cancer survivor, I know some of the feelings Joe is going through; anxiety, anger, confusion. Fear.
Cancer is a cold hearted nasty Bitch. I hate her sooo very much.
I would venture that many of you are survivors yourself. And all of you have been touched in some way by Cancer in your life.
I miss you (enter name here). We all have one or more names to fill in.
As a Paramedic and Firefighter for over 20 years I have seen and dealt with much pain and suffering. Every bad call takes its toll. But occasionally a call or a person changes the equation of suffering.
That equation is simply to help.
I have a motto that I adopted long ago while undergoing Chemotherapy.
“Whatever you do today is important…Because you exchange a day of your life for it”
Thank you for your help.
No amount is too small. No prayer too big.
Todd Newcomer
Organizer
Tia Trauernicht-Newcomer
Organizer
Bend, OR
