Gordon Schaefer

Gordon's lung cancer diagnosis was confirmed in April of 2016.  It has been a year filled with high hopes and sad disappointments.  Gordon hung tough through a collapsed lung resulting in a 2 week critical care hospital stay, home infusion therapy to clear up a major lung infection, 3 different chemo treatments and 10 palliative radiation treatments to his lower spine and lumbar area.  Today, April 14, 2017 hospice representatives made their first visit to our home and tomorrow some home healthcare equipment will be delivered.  The past two weeks have been especially heartbreaking because there has been a very rapid decline in his physical condition.  It first started with a fall walking across a parking lot, after which he started using a cane.  Within days the can wasn't offering the assistance he needed so he tried a walker next.  He took a fall at home, while using the walker.  Within a week his legs were numb and week and no longer able to hold him.  He is now completely unable to walk and using a wheelchair full time.  He has enjoyed the cards and phone calls from friends and family and has been so very grateful for the generous contributions to the gofundme.com site that his sister, Michele, started for him.   Because of that fund we will be able to manage the insurance deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums that would been financially devastating if not for this help.   Most recently we got the news that we are going to be grandparents in November.  We are hopeful that he will still be here to experience the joy with our family but realistically that is very unlikely.   Updates will be posted here for those interested in knowing how things are going during this last leg of his journey.