Support for the Huntley family

It's no secret: the Huntley family rarely asks for help. But I, Kate, have found that it's time to swallow my pride and ask for help.

A little over three years ago, my dad, Andy Huntley, began to get very severe pains and was losing his balance often. We made increasingly frequent trips to the emergency room, where he was typically treated for pain and dehydration and they declared that he had diverticulitis (simply put, inflammation of the colon). After nearly 30 trips by ambulance to Mercy Hospital at varying hours of day and night, a new doctor took over after almost a month long stay in Mercy.

After many hours of scans, lab work, X-rays, and consults, the doctor informed us on January 3, 2014 that he was going to perform a colonoscopy the following Monday. On January 6, 2014, I received a call at work. My brother informed me that they found a huge tumor and it needed to be removed. We never realized things would happen how they have. After 14 hours in surgery, the doctor told us that they were able to remove the tumor but that it had already spread to Andy's liver. He apparently only had about six months to live.

To sum up the next several months, our family went through a lot. There were frequent chemotherapy treatments, inpatient stays, falls, and then finally another surgery to remove more than half his liver to debulk the tumors. In the meantime, I developed a huge infection in my gallbladder and after two stays in Magee, they made the decision that I needed to have it taken out. On July 27, 2014 my dad had a 13 hour surgery at Montefiore. On July 29, 2014, I had my own surgery. Knowing that my dad only had a few months left (said the docs), my fiancé , Evan,asked if we could move up our wedding for My dad to be there. So we did, and he was there, and he walked me down the aisle on September 6, 2014.

Now for the part I hate: asking for help. Evan and I, my brother Andrew, and his awesome girlfriend Markie live at my parent's house with them to help out with finances and taking care of dad. My dear mama, Lorna, has been under so much stress that somehow between crying and grinding her teeth she bit through her tongue and needs to have a procedure to help fix that. She stays home to care for my dad while we work, and on weekends she works while my brother and Markie, myself, and even my grandmother have been caring for him. Recently, we have been having trouble with our truck, which finally stopped working today. This leaves us with two vehicles for six people at the worst possible time.

See, my dad fought a very long, very hard battle, and he still is- he had six months and beat those odds by a long shot but now his condition is worsening, the cancer continues to spread, and the bills just keep coming. Even with all of us working and contributing, There simply isn't enough money between paying for utilities, all of the bills that go along with cancer, taking care of our own health and personal bills, and now trying to buy a car- I can't miss it if I need to go to help my family. I'm not expecting anyone to read all this, let alone donate to it, but I have to do something because our family needs help to get by. Anything will make a difference and maybe even make things go slightly smoother.

I hate to beg. I just don't know what else to do at this point. Everyone always tells us "let me know what I can do to help". This is when we need it, friends. Please help us. We haven't even hit the worst point in this journey yet. And anything I can do to help any of you, please let me know and I will certainly try. Thank you all.
-Kate (Huntley) Fleckenstein


P.S.  I can't stand the thought of other people having to deal with any of this stuff. Please, if your doctor recommends that you get a colonoscopy, consider doing it- if not for yourself, then for your loved ones.  The first step is early detection.