Roger Zopfi

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting. 


Roger has had a brave battle with leukemia and bladder cancer. He had a successful surgery for the bladder cancer with ongoing maintenance treatments to prevent its return. He was also  having ongoing treatment for his early stage leukemia .


In early February, he began having trouble with a persistent dry cough and shortness of breath. Shortly after Valentines day, while at home, he started having severe shortness of breath and cough that made the family decide that he needed a trip to the emergency room. The doctors decided that he needed to stay so that they could administer drugs to relieve fluids surrounding his heart and lungs. They also decided that they needed to start running many tests to make a complete diagnosis. The diagnosis was that he had cardiomyopathy, advanced stage congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia. 


At this point, it was assumed that they would insert a pacemaker and defibrillator. Unfortunately, more tests also revealed that he had previously had unknown heart attacks and his heart function was now too low to be eligible for those procedures. The doctors decided to give drug therapy a try to improve the situation. He was sent home to convalesce with his new drug therapy and a device to do the work of the pacemaker and defibrillator. 


He regained some strength and mobility for about one month but then went into a state of steady decline. He began having great difficulty with swallowing and eating. The family started to try many things to assist with this but it just continued until it became almost impossible for him to take in much beyond a few sips of Ensure or water. Roger then made the decision that it was time for him to begin with the hospice program. On Friday, April 24th, 2020, hospice took over Rogers home medical care. 


We will continue to add updates to Rogers journey. The family thanks you for your love and support at this difficult time. We will share all of your messages and wishes with Roger and will pass along any reply.