Help JoeBob & Annie Beat Cancer!
Donation protected
*** unfortunately my Dad lost his battle with cancer on 01/20/2016. To honor his memory we are going to keep the fund open and do everything we can to help 2 amazing people who are currently battling cancer. JoeBob McGrath and Annie Pepson are the parents of 2 dear friends and we've decided to keep the fund open and donate all future funds to them equally and hope it helps them both in their fight against the same horrible disease that took my Dad from us far too soon.
Up until the beginning of this year my Dad, Rick was a successful musician - singer, keyboardist, guitarist, bassist, drummer, composer, songwriter, and professional sound man for artists such as Jake Owen, David Nail, Darryl Worley, Little River Band, and more, until he had an accident. He took a bad fall, causing a traumatic injury that adversely affected his circulatory system, to the point where it began to cause several problems in several areas. This in turn set off a chain reaction whereby he couldn't eat without pain, eventually causing extreme weight loss, and intermittent but severe discomfort throughout every day. This has been his situation for just over a year now, and he was almost immediately forced to leave his sound engineer job of 15 years. Without being able to work he had to spend every dime he had on just sustaining his basic life requirements while trying to heal. This has been a beyond difficult task without medical insurance.
We were finally able to get in touch with an attorney who has helped us file for disability but unfortunately we have been warned it could take up to 2 years before he sees 1 dime. The attorney got us in touch with a local program that could assist with some basic medical services. Recently he was seen at a clinic where he had blood work done. This blood work only increased our concerns due to his dangerously low levels. This week he was seen again, referred to the hospital for further testing and unfortunately the outcome was not good. Rick, my Dad, got a preliminary diagnosis of a significant-sized stomach tumor, and most likely not the friendly kind. (This is all still in the early stages of detection of type/stage/sensitivity/etc., so it’s pending further tests).
The questions we now face are where do we go from here? And where do we go from here while we wait for some sort of assistance or relief from Disability? We cannot wait for benefits to come so we need to start working on this now, and as many of you know - while he is beyond humble and prides himself on not relying on others - at this point there is no choice.
The medical bills are mounting and he has no insurance at the moment so we need all the help we can get. This man is my Dad, my hero, my everything and I need him to be around for as long as possible. Can you please help this very talented man continue his life? I’m not anywhere near ready to continue forward without him, so I will do whatever I can to make sure he is around for years to come.
Up until the beginning of this year my Dad, Rick was a successful musician - singer, keyboardist, guitarist, bassist, drummer, composer, songwriter, and professional sound man for artists such as Jake Owen, David Nail, Darryl Worley, Little River Band, and more, until he had an accident. He took a bad fall, causing a traumatic injury that adversely affected his circulatory system, to the point where it began to cause several problems in several areas. This in turn set off a chain reaction whereby he couldn't eat without pain, eventually causing extreme weight loss, and intermittent but severe discomfort throughout every day. This has been his situation for just over a year now, and he was almost immediately forced to leave his sound engineer job of 15 years. Without being able to work he had to spend every dime he had on just sustaining his basic life requirements while trying to heal. This has been a beyond difficult task without medical insurance.
We were finally able to get in touch with an attorney who has helped us file for disability but unfortunately we have been warned it could take up to 2 years before he sees 1 dime. The attorney got us in touch with a local program that could assist with some basic medical services. Recently he was seen at a clinic where he had blood work done. This blood work only increased our concerns due to his dangerously low levels. This week he was seen again, referred to the hospital for further testing and unfortunately the outcome was not good. Rick, my Dad, got a preliminary diagnosis of a significant-sized stomach tumor, and most likely not the friendly kind. (This is all still in the early stages of detection of type/stage/sensitivity/etc., so it’s pending further tests).
The questions we now face are where do we go from here? And where do we go from here while we wait for some sort of assistance or relief from Disability? We cannot wait for benefits to come so we need to start working on this now, and as many of you know - while he is beyond humble and prides himself on not relying on others - at this point there is no choice.
The medical bills are mounting and he has no insurance at the moment so we need all the help we can get. This man is my Dad, my hero, my everything and I need him to be around for as long as possible. Can you please help this very talented man continue his life? I’m not anywhere near ready to continue forward without him, so I will do whatever I can to make sure he is around for years to come.
Organizer
Steph Eckstein
Organizer
Clarks Summit, PA
