Hundley Fundley

JOSH UPDATE

10/02/23

It has been over a week now since he’s been gone. Today would have been his 39th birthday.

I know all he wanted was for his wife & kids to be taken care of.

Please keep them in your thoughts & give; if you are able, to this fundraiser.

All donations go towards his family, & arrangements for his celebration of life.

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The day before my brother Josh was diagnosed, we spoke on the phone for a long time. Not about cancer or sickness. Or upcoming appointments. I didn’t even know he had an “ulcer” because he didn’t mention it. We talked about growing up, joy, pain, & healing. I could hear him smile when he said my name at the end of the call. When we hung up, I wiped tears from my eyes & turned to my husband. He goes, “You guys are gonna be even closer now”

He was right. From then on, we made a point of being more involved in each others lives. More texts, phone calls, even kitten play dates. When “cancer” replaced the word “ulcer” it threw us all off guard. But I genuinely was walking around like Lloyd Christmas, “So you’re tellinggg me there’s a chance” until September 19.

Tuesdays were our days. Since he had to stop working, he had a lot more time on his hands. I’d drive out to gig harbor, or we would go somewhere else. Sometimes we’d do things, sometimes we’d do nothing. He’d grill for me even when he couldn’t eat the food himself. We laughed, cried, ya know bro stuff. I loved sitting on the deck with him staring at the water. He wanted to be in water so badly.

September 19 was another Tuesday, but this one was special because I was spending the night. This time I was his ride to chemo. The hospital was far, & we needed to be there early in the morning. I’ve never taken anybody to chemo before. I felt anxious. It was extremely hard to see Josh struggling. We’ve all felt helpless, we hoped this visit to Fred Hutch would provide him some sort of relief. Any motion took his breath away. He couldn’t keep water down. Food was out of the question. So was sleeping.

He felt awful. We felt awful seeing him hurting. It was awful. I’m sharing these parts with you, because I need you to understand that even through all this pain he was still cracking jokes. Being considerate, sweet, & sarcastic. Smiling at me anytime we made eye contact.

Bein Josh.

He rode with his eyes closed, head back, listening to the bluesy mix I put on. It felt like the appropriate choice. But then it also felt super inappropriate because a lottt of the songs were about dying.. I wasn’t sure if Josh was paying attention to the lyrics. Otis started sangin about missing his water, & Josh goes “I miss my water” he was listening.

As we were approaching the parking garage entrance he asked, “Do you think my body won’t take water & food because it’s just..done?”

I pushed my brother from the car to oncology in a wheel chair. I know he likes to go fast, but I kept it professional. So did the staff at FH. The nurses I met were lovely. They clearly adored him, & were so sorry to see him that way. They did what they could to make him as comfortable as possible.

The next person to come in the room let us know that it was their professional opinion to stop all treatment. That he had approx one week to a month left to live. We were there for a total of 90 minutes, & we left. I’ve still never taken anyone to chemo before. Thankfully the drive home was a little more comfortable for him. We kept listening to blues. More Otis. He told me I was a better driver than my aunt, & I never told him what that meant to me.

There was more that I didn’t say to him, but I could have. I don’t regret it. He knew. I know for a fact that he felt the love I have for him without me crying at him fumbling over my words.. He always reassured me of that. I just wish we had more time.

Our evolution story was cut short.

When we were kids, we tortured each other. I really thought we would hate each other forever.

As adults, you walked me down the aisle.

I thought we had more growing up together to do. I still can’t picture a future without you in it.

I wonder what you could have looked like as an old man. I’m so grateful for the time we did have. Even if we were just outside looking at the water.

Love you forever, brother.

“In the beginning

You really loved me, oh

I was too blind

I could not see, now

But now that you left me

Ooh, how I cried out, I keep crying

You don't miss your water

'Till your well runs dry”

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09/24/23

It is with a heavy heart that I have to share that Joshua passed away this morning at home. We are all still in shock because he declined so quickly these last few days. We thought we had more time. Hospice was scheduled to come out tomorrow and part of that was to help make funeral arrangements. Once things have been figured out I will let everyone know. Thank you for all the love and support. Josh knew he was loved and he fought as hard as he could have. I take solalce in knowing that he is no longer in pain and can finally be at peace. ❤️

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09/23/23

We learned on Wednesday that Joshes care will be moving to Hospice going forward. The chemo isn’t working to control the cancer and his health is rapidly declining. Unfortunately we are out of options. He is needing more and more frequent paracentesis (twice a week) and the in between time he is super uncomfortable. The fluid makes it hard for him to breath and sleep and he is super exhausted all the time. He went in today and had a permanent drain placed so we can drain him as needed at home now though.

We don’t know how much time we have left with him. The doctors said worst case scenario a week, the best case a month. Even though in the back of our minds we knew this was coming, we weren’t expecting it to come so quickly. We had been holding out hope for the new scan in mid October but it became clear on Wednesday that the cancer is continuing to spread and his body is shutting down. He has done everything possible to fight this cancer, it’s just a very aggressive and super rare kind.

We ask that you give us a few days to get things figured out with hospice. Once we have him settled and ready for visitors I will post and let everyone know.

He is sleeping a lot these days so he doesn’t respond quickly to messages. You can text me or fb message me if you have anything pressing.

Thank you for all the love, prayers and support!

-Melinda Hundley

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08/16/23

Josh and Melinda had a virtual call with Dr Zhen today to go over his recent scans and there are mixed results. Some areas of the cancer “appear” to be stabilizing with this chemo (no new growth) while other areas of the cancer are still growing.

With that said, there is only one other type of chemo to try. They decided to do two more rounds of the current chemo and see how the scans look in 6 weeks since he has only had three rounds of the current chemo before the scans. If areas are still not responding and growing, then they will give it one last shot with the final type of chemo that “may” help.

Since Josh’s type of cancer is so rare and aggressive there are not really any trials for him to possibly do either. There are one or two across the country that are in phase one and he might “possibly” meet the criteria but could be months out IF he even qualifies or they have a spot available, and it would require he move temporarily to participate.

So, we are in another 6-week holding pattern and praying that the chemo will do its job and stabilize the growth of the cancer in ALL areas!

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08/08/23

The end of June, Joshua was struggling with fevers and a huge spike in his white blood cell count when he arrived at Fred Hutch for his chemo treatment. They said they needed to find out what was going on before they would administer his chemo. (Because chemo on top of another infection would be like throwing gasoline on a stack of kindling.) They did a battery of tests and rescanned to see if the tumor was reacting to treatment.

Unfortunately, the tumor had grown, so treatment with that chemo stopped. Josh and Melinda met with his Care Team the next day and they produced a new plan and a different chemo, and he is receiving that every three weeks currently. They want him to have three full rounds (third one is on 8/9) and then they will rescan on 8/19. We are praying the tumor has shrunk or has halted growth.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Josh and his beautiful family. This is a huge battle he is fighting, so please keep them coming!!

-Kelli Markuson

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05/07/23

Josh finally had his first round of chemotherapy on Friday at Fred Hutch in Seattle. (Happy Cinco De Mayo to him)

We decided to go with Dr. Zhen at Fred Hutch because Josh got a better feeling/vibe with him when we met with him for a second opinion. This first cycle of chemo will be every two weeks for 2-3 months and then he will get new scans to see how it’s working.

It has been a rough weekend for Josh with the nausea and fatigue. Then today he had to have two units of blood infused when he went to get his pump disconnected because his red blood cell count was so low. He was not a fan of the cold therapy during the chemo, and I said he’d do either.. so I’m sure he wasn’t super happy with me on Friday!

I’m not sure what we were expecting his reactions/side effects to the chemo to be but it wasn’t this. It has definitely kicked his ass this weekend which he isn’t used to! We are glad to finally be doing something to start fighting the cancer though and are working on managing his side effects. Now it’s just a waiting game again to complete the rounds of chemo and get new scans to see if it is stopping the growth or hopefully even shrinking the tumor.

Continued prayers and good vibes are always welcome! We are grateful for all the love and support!

-Melinda Hundley

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04/06/23

Dear friends and family,

​We are reaching out on behalf of the Hundley family to let you know we’re starting a fundraiser to help Josh, his wife Melinda, and their kids Greyson, Kellan, and Sophie.

On March 20th our entire family was shocked to find out Josh was diagnosed with late-stage cancer of the esophagus. The last few weeks have been difficult for all of us who love the Hundley’s, but together we continue to support them with our outpouring of love, healing vibes, prayers, and all other manners of support.

The road will be long and its just begun, so far Josh has undergone surgery and a variety of testing. Surgery went well at St. Joes Hospital. They did a liver biopsy, equipped a feeding tube, and inserted a med port for chemo to prep for future treatments. Right now, it’s a waiting game for test results so the Oncology team can determine the best treatment plan.

The future will consist of ups and downs as we all figure out how to navigate these hard times. Josh will be on leave from work and will require extra care when home. A lot of medical expenses and time must go into helping Josh with the extra care. None of us know exactly what to expect down the road or what obstacles will arise, but we do know Josh is a fighter and he has every intention of kicking cancers ass!

If you would like to provide assistance, our goal is to give some peace of mind to the Hundley’s by easing the worry of a financial burden. All funds will go directly to the Hundley’s for medical costs and related expenses.

“you don’t have to; you get to”

Sincerely,

Steven and Kaitlin Medina