Contribute to Stanton’s Future

From Mark’s sister Erin: 

It’s with a broken heart that I share the news that my baby brother/best buddy/Burb is finally at peace. He passed around 5:30 pm Wednesday evening, August 3rd, surrounded by our parents, our older brother Andy, and myself. He left this world knowing he was so very loved by so very many. He fought his illness with bravery and grace and we couldn’t be more proud of him. It’s been a hard several days so we are relieved he’s finally at peace. 

He’s survived by his almost-five year old son Stanton and his step-daughter Renee, whom he was an amazing father to. He adored them both and thought Stanton was the cutest and funniest kid to exist and Renee a sweet & talented artist. He was proud of them both. They will continue to have a strong support system around them and will be well-looked after for the rest of their lives…we’ll make sure of it. 

Please remember our Burby as the sweet, kind, generous, goofy, funny, smart-ass, food and metal-loving guy that he was. We ask that you remember him fondly, talk about him often, and keep him in your hearts. 

And thank you all SO MUCH for your thoughts, prayers, and amazingly generous donations. 

We love you forever, Burb.

Original post:

Our cousin Mark is a single 34 year old father to his 4 year old son Stanton and his 13 year old step daughter Renee. He has both children 95% of the time. He has very recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that has spread to an adrenal gland, a hip, shoulder, his spine, and several ribs. His Doctor told him that "we'll do everything we can to treat it, but eventually the cancer is going to win."

A bit of the back story:

He recently came down with covid and was having chest pain, so he sought the Emergency Department in town for help. While there, he had an x-ray done where he was diagnosed with secondary pneumonia from having covid (which he has been fighting for over a month). Thankfully the pneumonia wasn't severe enough to where he needed to stay hospitalized. But, in the x-ray, they spotted a mass in his right lung that was alarming. He had to have a biopsy done, which showed that it was cancerous and is a non small cell carcinoma. He also had to have a PET scan done and that is unfortunately where they found that the cancer had spread to other parts of his body. He is currently seeking a 2nd opinion from another oncologist as well.

Through all of this, unfortunately he has not been able to work but a few days here and there. He is also inbetween insurance right now, which puts a huge burden on him. We would like to take some of this burden off of his hands and help with some of the expenses he is going to endure. We appreciate anything that you would be willing to help with, every little bit helps! Please keep Mark and his children in your prayers! Thank you so much!!

With love,

The Pritchard Family