Garret's Fight Against Cancer

Long story short, Garret and Kirsten need our help.

Garret has been fighting stage 4 cancer for almost 3 years now. After 8 surgeries, several rounds of chemo, and multiple rounds of radiation, they thought the cancer was finally gone for good this summer. Unfortunately, that is not the case as more spots have popped back up in his liver and lungs on the most recent scan. The good news is that he feels healthy and has been crushing life as always, the bad news is that the treatment everyone thought was going to work, did not end up working. So we now need to find new ways to fight it. This is where the already scary line he's been riding gets scarier.

The plan from here is to seek out any and all new types of medicine and hopefully get into some promising clinical trials to try and defeat the cancer. This is all on top of the chemo and other treatments that are already back in the works. Garret has deemed this effort: Project Don't Fucking Die. As we all know, medical treatment is not cheap. All of this is going to come at some significant added cost, between more travel, hospital visits, new medicine, etc. These two have been quietly fighting this and not asking for help for the past few years. So now we, their close friends, feel it is time to ask for help on their behalf.

For those who don't know Garret, you would never know he had cancer if you met him. A vibrant ball of energy, he spreads the stoke to everyone around him. He lives life with a full-send mentality, and through cancer has remained getting after it in the outdoors, backcountry skiing some of Snoqualmie Pass’s finest lines in winter, and biking up a storm in summer, (even doing big days on the e-bike when he feels like shit from treatment). You might even catch him flying off a nearby peak with his paraglider. These are not things most people with cancer are doing on the regular, but Garret has refused to let the brutality of cancer treatment hold him back. Life is for living, and there is no better example of someone who embraces this. It's extremely inspiring to witness.

You may also recognize Garret from Laconia Market, a small grocery store and cafe at Snoqualmie Pass that he, his wife Kirsten, and another friend (Katie) opened this year. Garret and Kirsten were already a big part of the Snoqualmie Pass community, and have now helped to elevate the Pass to a new level with Laconia which has become a massive community hub. He will probably excitedly stoke you out on your adventures, since he’s on his 5th coffee of the day and just as fired up as you are to get out and get after it.

In conclusion, cancer sucks. Garret and Kirsten are two of the most top-notch humans you will ever meet, let's help them fight this with everything we can throw at it. Full Gas. Don't Crash. #FuckCancer