Mike Taaffe Mike Taaffe

Mike Taaffe is a loving husband to Marie Taaffe, father of 5, Grandpa to 9 grandkids and 1 grandpup.  Mike is a lover of antiquing, gardening, inventing games, DIY home projects,  game night with the family and anything that has to do with his grandchildren!  There is nothing more important to Mike than making memories with his family. After Mike's own wife's journey with surviving cancer, our motto is living every day to your fullest. Until someone you love is fighting for their life, you tend to take the little things for granted. As a family we lived through how cancer changes you and learned how it highlights what's important. With that being said, I'm saddened to write that we have received some very heart breaking news about our superman Dad. 


On February 17, 2020 Mike(Dad) and Marie(Mom) called all of us kids over to their home because they had something important to talk about. When you get that kind of phone call, your heart stops, your stomach drops and you know your world is about to change. As we sat around our parents living room, we were told that Mike(Dad) was having some health issues over the course of the past few months and finally went to the doctor in late January where they did some scans and  blood work. On these scans they found several growths in Mike's lungs and enlarged Lymph nodes in his pelvis area. They couldn't necessarily answer the millions of questions we all had at the time, but wanted us all on the same page. Over the course of the next week, Mike underwent several procedures. He had 2 Lymph nodes removed in his pelvis that were enlarged and biopsied. Mike also had a procedure to biopsy tissue from a growth in his lungs.  The good news was the Lymph node biopsy came back benign, the bad news was the Lungs biopsy came back malignant. Our super Dad was officially diagnosed with Lung Cancer. At that point in time his doctor said, "Adenocarcinoma is the most common type of Lung cancer and we have several treatment options." Of course they ordered a few more scans to take a closer look at exactly what they were dealing with in this new diagnosis.


On March 11, 2020 Mike had what we called, "the big appointment" which was his consult with oncologist Dr. Gummadi. At this appointment we were informed about all the final results from all the tests and all the scans and get a final prognosis. All we knew going into this appointment was that Dad definitely had Lung Cancer. What we learned at this appointment takes the breath right out of you. Dr. Gummadi began to show us a 3D scan of Mike, where we could see his lungs and bones. Than she started speaking softly and slowly, "I am diagnosing you with Stage 4 Lung Cancer that has metastasized into several of your rib bones and discs of your spine. That means that this is treatable but NOT curable." We all sat quietly and listened to her speak and explain that it is her expert opinion that because the cancer was not only in Mike's lungs, but also in his bones, that she strongly feels it started perhaps in his intestinal tract and she spoke of how rare this is. We left that appointment feeling utterly heart broken. 


Mike underwent a scope procedure and a colonoscopy procedure to try to find out exactly where this cancer started. Unfortunately the results of these tests were inconclusive and provided us with no answers. The source still remains unknown.  The doctor stated that only 5% of cancer case origins are never found. Mike's official Cancer diagnosis is titled, Stage 4 Non-Primary Cancer, that means undetermined origin that has metastasized into his lungs and bones. Going forward they have several options for treatment to prolong Mike's life and hopefully shrink and maintain the cancer that is already existing. 


All of our family and friends have shown so much love and support over the years as Marie(Mom) fought Leukemia, all we can do today is ask you to please do the same for our Dad, Mike as he begins this journey.