A lot has happened since August and while family and close friends are aware of Steve's current status, many others are not. After being discharged from the hospital in late summer, Steve had another issue that sent him back to the hospital. It was then that the doctors at Mercy told us what his own cancer team had never said - the cancer treatments he has been undergoing this entire time were never for lifesaving purposes, just life-extending. He was now losing his battle with cancer and it was time to consider hospice. This came as a big shock to all of us, but in his own words, he was "at peace with it." 

Steve has spent the time since in home hospice care and knocking some things off his bucket list. We did a nice fall color drive, went to visit some friends he has long considered family, and he tried his first pina colada and was hooked. He had been doing really well for a long time and for that reason we held off sharing this news broadly. But since the week prior to Thanksgiving, he has been experiencing rapid decline. His one goal throughout this whole time was to make it to Christmas - he's been growing his Santa beard since the spring. Now we are facing the very real possibility that he may not make it to Christmas.

We ask that you please not bombard Steve or Erin with calls. It will just overwhelm him. If you have a message you would like to share with him, please feel free to text it to him or comment here. He has lost interest in his phone for the most part, but we will do our best to share messages with him when he is coherent.