He was living the American Dream. Always the life of the party, the older sibling others looked up to with admiration and respect.  A few years ago he took the plunge and started his own business. 

Around July 2015, he started experiencing stomach pains and figured it was due the stress of building his business.  But a doctor visit that led to a biopsy revealed a much graver situation: Neuroendocrine Carcinoma, a rare form of cancer affecting less than 1% of all diagnosed.  And while normally a slow-growing cancer, his was a rare aggressive type.  His abdomen and liver were the first to be affected, with large, swollen lymph glands that made it hard to eat, as there was little room for food to move through his digestive system (despite being hungry much of the time).  Weight loss began quickly.  Initial treatment (chemo) responded, and after months there was hope that the cancer was going into remission.  Everyone’s prayers seemed answered.  But then it came back, aggressive as ever, and has since spread to other areas of his body.  After all other treatment options were unsuccessful over the past year, he applied for an expensive oral form of chemo but was denied by the insurance company.  While the family appealed and fought for this singular chance at saving his life, his health continued to decline.  The medicine was finally approved in the past month, but it is hard to say whether it will help at this late stage in his battle.  He has gone from a healthy 170 or 180 pounds to maybe 120 now, with much of that being the weight of the swollen glands in his chest and distended abdomen.  He is weak, weak enough that he cannot get dressed without help.  Walking, driving his kids to school, playing with his kids…all activities that are now only memories as the cancer continues to slowly take the life out of him.  He is hungry, but unable to eat.  He suffers much with the internal pressure and discomfort of the tumors.  And his family is forced to stand by mostly helpless and watch in agony as their husband/dad/sibling/son inches closer to his passing daily, waiting and praying for a miracle at this late hour.  There is also the mental side of this — I can’t imagine what is going through his mind over and over, things such as not walking his daughter down the aisle, or never getting a chance to gaze into his grandkids’ eyes.  It must be hard to not dwell on such things.  As this disease took his healthy life away, he was forced to quit his business.  Even then, he tried to take the kids to school, and other normal things.  He had been mowing the lawns of a couple elderly neighbors with a push mower. But as that got to be too much, he bought a used riding mower and had it fixed up so that he could get out after 2 or 3 days of rest and continue to take care of them.  This is the kind of man this is, trying to do things for others even at a great sacrifice to himself.