CW Stutt - Medical Recovery Through Friendships
Welcome Team Stutt!!! Most of you know me as Kat. I'm here today because we are organizing a fundraiser for our best and dearest friends CW and Linda Stutt. CW and Linda need our help more than ever right now. As hospital bills continue to pile up, CW and Linda are finding it difficult to focus on his healing that we all have prayed so hard for. To provide you a better understanding of the challenges CW has endured and continues to endure, I have "tried" to provide you an abbreviated timeline of the sequence of events over the past 7 months.
Because of you, I laugh a little harder, cry a little less and smile a lot more. ~Unknown~
After 30 years of Civil Service at Langley AFB, VA., CW was enjoying a simple retirement with his beautiful wife Linda, their children and grandchildren in Myrtle Beach, SC. December 16th, 2020, was supposed to be an ordinary endoscopy. However, the endoscopy found a tumor and the pathology report showed it as malignant. Life as they once knew it, was over. CW was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. For the next 26 days CW experienced what felt like a never ending Science Experiment. There was Blood Work, Cat Scans, MRIs, PET Scans, X-Rays, Specialized Lab Work, a Port insertion and repeated COVID-19 Tests. All through the Christmas holiday, and all while our country was experiencing it's highest COVID 19 morbidity and fatality rates!
Some people arrive and make such a beautiful impact on your life, you can barely remember what life was like without them in it.
~Anna Taylor~
CW's Oncologist felt it would be beneficial to have radiation and chemotherapy treatment prior to surgery to shrink the tumor, giving the surgeon the most success to remove all the cancer. So, on Jan 12th, 2021, CW began radiation. Radiation 5 days a week for 3 straight months!!! The side effects were horrendous! Following Radiation, CW then underwent Chemotherapy 3 days a week for 2 straight months!!! The side effects continued to be horrendous but CW in pure CW style, proved himself to be one hell of a warrior through it all!
A True Friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden ~Unknown~
Just as his treatments got into a routine he and Linda could manage, in May 2021, he had a Cardio Stress Test which resulted in a positive reading. NOW HE HAD TO HAVE A CARDIAC CATHETER! Does it get any worse? For the Stutt family at that time...No! So, On June 3rd, 2021, during the Catheter, the Cardiologist found 2 blockages. One artery had a 30% blockage, while another had a 40% blockage. Rather than insert stents and prevent CW from his surgery to remove the cancerous tumor, the Cardiologist installed wires instead. YAY!!!! "Mission still a Go!"
A True Friend is someone who helps you up when you're down, and if they can't, they lay down beside you and listen.
~Winnie the Pooh~
So, on 9 June 2021, on CW and Linda's 48 year wedding anniversary, they headed to Charleston SC to check into a hotel and ready to show up in the very early hours on 10 June, 2021 for CW's major surgery to remove the cancer. And sooooooo...during the surgery they removed 1/3 of his lower Esophagus and simultaneously removed 1/3 of his upper stomach. Stitching the two back together with prayers from friends, family, and complete strangers all over the country. During surgery, CW had to have a feeding tube inserted into the small amount of stomach he has left along with a drainage port. With the feeding tube and the type of surgery CW just had, there is a constant reality he may aspirate. This is because during surgery his esophageal sphincter is removed or changed, resulting in no gag reflex or a flap to stop food and bile from coming back up. The feeding tube is normally in place for 6 - 8 weeks, but the CW we all know and love, fought with everything he had, followed all the instructions and had a fabulous wife making sure it all happened like clockwork. Getting Medications converted to liquid, routinely flushing the line every 4 hours, keeping it filled with liquid food ordered by the surgeon, and made sure he was always sleeping at a 90 degree angle and didn't aspirate. Consequently, he had his feeding tubes and drainage port removed earlier than expected during week 4. Linda is truly an angel with hidden wings. And God surely had his arms around CW as he fights this disease like the soldier that he is.
True Friends are those rare people who ask how we are, then wait to hear the answer. ~Ed Cunningham~
CW now must have all solid foods cut up into tiny pieces. Because the surgeon improvised an addition to his esophagus by creating a small tube made from his remaining stomach and attached that small piece of stomach directly into the small bowel, it is now critical that CW eat only 1.5 cups of food at any given time. Because he is limited to only 1.5 cups of any foods, he must now eat 6-7 times a day to ensure the proper nutrition, and nothing comes back up and causes him to aspirate. They were also recently informed CW will always be at risk of aspiration and therefore needs to sleep at a 45 degree angle for the rest of his life. Because CW had slipped onto his back once prior, post surgery, and aspirated, they were forced to purchase the cheapest bed possible with an electrical adjustment at the head of the bed. To save money to be used towards outstanding medical bills, Linda opted for a bed with one control. Meaning when CW is sleeping at a 45 degree angle, so is she.
Here's my favorite thing about best friends; it can be years since you have seen each other and, the moment you start talking, it is like you were never apart. ~Becca Anderson~
So there you have it. CW's struggle with yet another bout of cancer. Did I mention he is a survivor of Prostate Cancer? No? Well yes he is!!! Cancer was found and removed along with his prostate in 2008. CW is definitely a fighter and a survivor!!! But as I think I mentioned earlier, to those of us that have known him for so many years, it comes as no surprise. This is just how "OUR OLD FRIEND CW " rolls.
Friendship isn't about who you've known the longest. It's about who walked into your life, said "I'm here for you" and proved it. ~Unknown~
So why am I asking for your generosity and help for an old time friend? CW and Linda are responsible for 20% of their medical bills. Insurance pays the remaining 80%. Because Linda and CW were 100% caretakers for Linda's Mom (Babe/Marilyn) for the last 7 years of her life, they went through their entire life savings paying for her bills, her Assisted Living Facility costs, prescription meds, snacks, clothes etc., until the day she passed away. Like anything and everything Linda and CW do...family and friends always come before themselves, and taking care of Mom was simply another case of putting someone they loved ahead of their own financial desires. Most of us have experienced this at one point or another when caring for our ageing parents. Unfortunately however, it can leave us in a predicament when we have a huge and unexpected tragedy, accompanied by massive financial obligations.
Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you. ~Misty Copeland~
For those who have been touched by cancer, you know this type of diagnosis affects more that just the patient. CW's diagnosis has impacted his family and definitely upended normal daily life. While many of the medical costs are covered by insurance, there are enormous amounts of out of pocket medical and travel expenses associated with his start to finish treatment. Not all the bills have been received yet and treatment isn't over. CW and Linda have been informed by the Oncologist, CW must have an immunotherapy drip every 2 weeks for 16 weeks, then once a month for a year. We have no idea how much each of these treatments will cost. With both of them receiving their Social Security, CW's civil service retirement and Linda's part time job, it just isn't sufficient for the amount needed to pay medical bills in the thousands of dollars.
Best Friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart. ~Anonymous~
CW and Linda have been there for each and everyone of us over the last 30+ years. Tony and I consider them our very best friends with over 25 years of wonderful memories. A lot of you have known them even longer than we have. But we truly consider them the best friends and family we ever chose. They've been there at one time or another for everyone. For many of you CW and Linda have watched your children grow up, as you too have watched their children grown up. You know they would drop what they are doing if you needed them for absolutely anything. They would offer you whatever they had to give, and if they couldn't do it by themselves, they'd surely organize something that could!!! That is just our CW and Linda! We are all so blessed to have them as our friends and family. For anyone CW and Linda meets, they can be sure they will open their arms and their homes without hesitation to welcome them into their family.
You and I are more than great friends...We're really like a small gang. ~Unknown~
Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you in advance for your generosity and your love for CW. Easing this financial burden allows CW to focus on healing from this dreadful disease.
Most importantly, please continue to keep CW in your prayers and ask our good Lord to keep his arms around CW. Too much of something is not always a good thing, but one can never have too much prayer. From the very bottom of our hearts....Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
❤TEAM STUTT❤ 