Donate to help Bruce Collins from Shelby Twp. MI

Bruce Collins is a friend of mine that owns Sprinkler Depot in Shelby Township, MI. My name is John Cline of JC Landscaping Sprinkler System Service, I have known their family for 35 years. He was recently diagnosed with stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer.

Bruce has been enduring extensively difficult chemotherapy treatments, and his wife has been taking care of him. They have not been able to work which is why they need this fundraiser. To support Bruce during this challenging time, they need assistance with medical costs and related expenses not covered by medical insurance.

Their financial reserves are depleted, and help is greatly needed. Please share this GoFundMe page with family and friends who may be able to help support him through this fight.

Here is Bruce's story written by his loving wife Christine......

On Wednesday, November 30th, 2022, my husband Bruce woke up, looked in the mirror and came out to ask his color-blind wife if he looked "yellow"?

I replied, "No" and our day continued. Later that day, I noticed that his eye color was not the same as it normally was, and we immediately called our doctor who told us to get to the ER as quickly as we can because he had become jaundiced. Jaundice? I had never heard jaundice could happen in an adult, I only heard that infants could have jaundice.

We silently knew something was wrong but not once did we allow our brains to go to the idea of cancer until the ER doctor told us there was a mass on his pancreas.

The world stopped. At least mine did. I believe that nurses walked by his ER curtain doing their jobs, talking about what they were planning on doing for the patient next to Bruce, yet my eyes were fixed on his doctor in front of me who was explaining what was happening. His lips were moving, but everything was said in slow motion. Sounds were coming out of his mouth. I assume they were words, but I can't remember any of them.

I do, however, remember the doctor's face. It's burned into my memory forever. I remember how he took a deep breath before he said it. I remember how he had this sad look. I remember how he slightly shrugged his shoulders. I remember he made this odd sound before he delivered the news, I believe it was the pen nervously clicking in his hand. I remember Bruce's reaction, and I remember feeling like I had just been hit by a semi-truck. I remember looking at Bruce and told him that I had to go outside. I didn't want Bruce to see me cry, I wanted him to feel, if even for a second, that everything was going to be okay but it wasn't. Bruce was diagnosed with Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

I lost the "old Bruce" that day. I lost the man who held our future, our stories, our jokes, our strengths and our memories. And over the following months, I could see parts of the old Bruce again, but the diagnosis and treatments changed everything. It changed him. It changed me. It changed our kids. It changed our families. It changed all of our plans together.

It's not just about the loss of our "normal" lives because of his cancer. It's about the loss of the life we've built together, the loss of security. The loss of knowing what was supposed to be, because suddenly, everything we used to know is no longer within our grasp anymore. And out of nowhere, our lives came crashing down, around us.

Cancer redefined everything that we once knew as "normal".

And Bruce's cancer treatment begins:

Bruce and I are truly blessed to have a niece that is an RN, Jennifer. She's been with us every step of the way and together with her husband Joe, they were able to put us in touch with a wonderful surgical oncologist named Dr. David Kwon from the Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center.

We met with Dr. Kwon who explained to us that the tumor was right on top of both the celiac artery and the hepatic artery and that he could not do surgery until Bruce does a minimum of 3 months of chemo treatments. He is to be rescanned to see if the tumor is pulling far enough away for Dr. Kwon to do the Whipple Surgery. If that doesn't happen then Bruce will have to endure 1 more month of Chemo and another scan. This will happen for up to 6 months until Dr. Kwon feels it's ready for surgery.

We were told by Dr. Kwon that this surgery will be extremely dangerous for Bruce because of the location of the tumor on the arteries. Dr. Kwon said that if he accidentally nicks the artery, he will only have 45 seconds to repair it before Bruce bleeds out and dies.

The very first Chemo treatment started on December 19th. I was allowed to be with him for 5 1/2 hours on that first day. Since then, I have not been allowed to be with him during the chemo treatments. (Covid rules) It is so hard to bring him to the cancer center and leave him in the hands of others for 5 1/2 hours. My heart breaks every time!

After chemo on Monday, he has to return on Wednesday to have his pump removed and to be hydrated through an IV.

On Thursday, he has to return once again for a shot in the arm of Neupogen so he doesn't get infections.

And he has to return every Saturday morning for his platelet counts.

What has followed so far in these past 12 weeks is numerous doctor appointments, over a week long hospital stay, 5 chemo sessions, difficult and painful side effects, numerous diagnostic procedures, and weight and hair loss... fighting cancer is hard work.

Bruce has been enduring extensively difficult chemotherapy treatments, and I have been taking care of him. We have not been able to work which is why we need this fundraiser. To support Bruce during this challenging time, we need assistance with medical costs and related expenses not covered by medical insurance.

A medical crisis is made worse when it becomes a financial crisis too. Our financial reserves are depleted, and help is greatly needed. Please share this GoFundMe page with family and friends who may be able to help support him through this fight.

Bruce and I have been married 10 years and we have been together for 13 wonderful years. Bruce has always been MY rock. It is so hard to trade places with him. I wish I could take all this away from him but I know I can't. Now I have to be his rock. I know there is NO PLACE that I would rather be than with him. I will always be HIS ROCK!

Thank you so much & GOD BLESS!

Christine Collins