Help the Fugitt Fam at Johns Hopkins

As a few of you may already know, Mary's big squeeze, Garl, is bravely fighting the battle against Pancreatic Cancer. If this is news to you…please don’t hold it against them. Garl has been adamant about battling this on his own terms and without the bruhaha of social media posts. Should you open the dictionary to “stubborn,” – we are confident his handsome face would be proudly plastered below it.

Garl was initially diagnosed at the beginning of the year…January 28, 2022 to be exact. The initial prognosis was not good at Stage 3 with a 10% to 30 % chance of survival. Garl was fortunate enough to start treatment at Johns Hopkins. His treatment team has recently changed his chemo regimen, which has been easier for his body to tolerate. In fact, his last visit on October 4th showed the mass actually shrank a bit with his cancer marker at the lowest it's ever been. HUGE NEWS! With this incredible progress, his surgical team has finally approved a procedure called The Whipple. This complex operation removes the head of the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, the gallbladder and the bile duct. Although this surgery will be incredibly difficult, we cannot express how much this means to Garl and his family. This procedure and subsequent therapy will allow him a potential FIVE more years of life and love. Garl was facing the prospect of not seeing his kids (Nat & Luke) graduate in May or even celebrating another birthday in August. The gift of time has him beyond encouraged.

He is still in chemo, which should finish on December 5th. Mary and Garl will then return to Johns Hopkins for a scan and plant "seeds" in the tumor to help increase the amount of radiation that will target that specific area. That will happen on the week of the 12th and then back to Johns Hopkins to start radiation on 12/26, arriving in Baltimore on Christmas Day.

All donations will be used for the Hopkins stay, travel, hospital/chemo/radiation bills and loss of income during this time. Garl has been unable to work since his January diagnosis this year and has run out of paid leave. He now has to reimburse his employer out of pocket to maintain his health insurance through this process.

After months of asking them to allow the community to shower them with love and support, they have finally said yes. We appreciate any and all support that can help make a tangible difference in their lives and ease the monetary worries of the difficult journey in December.

We will keep his progress updated on this page and ask that you continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers!