Help an amazing man who is fighting Stage 3 Cancer

Hello everyone, my name is Erika Beard and this fundraiser is for my father William (Bil) Palmer. I have created this GoFundMe on his behalf.

I am reaching out to you with a plea for help. Just one week after Christmas 2023, my father was diagnosed with Stage 3b Lung Cancer. As a man who has always been in good health his whole life, this came as a HUGE shock. Right then and there, I told him that I would make sure he was well taken care of. It is the least I could do after all he has done for us.

My father, Bil, has always put family first, regardless of what else was happening in his life. When we lost our mother at a young age, he stepped up and became both parents. He is an Army veteran, and after leaving the Army, he opened his own small business; he was the only employee, and the business of course took a lot of his time. In addition, my grandfather owned a bar in Hamilton, and my dad would go there no less than 4 days a week to help him. Most nights, he would not get home until 2 am, but he would still make sure we got up for school on time. He was always there for what we needed, and to ensure we grew up loved and knowing what responsibility and commitment looks like.

Our current nightmare all started with routine blood work at the family doctor. His blood test came back that his white and red count were drastically low. The doctor thought that surely there had been a mistake and had blood drawn again. When the results came back the same, my dad was sent to a blood specialist who happened to be an oncologist. She ran special blood tests and a PET scan. The results showed a mass just over the size of a baseball toward the lower part of his right lung, and lymph nodes at the top of his lungs showed cancerous activity… unfortunately, the cancer had already started to spread. In just a few minutes, Bil went from an always-healthy person to someone with advanced lung cancer.

He then had a biopsy to confirm the cancerous activity in the lymph nodes. This showed the cancer had officially spread to the top of his lungs. On February 9, he will be having a brain MRI w/contrast to see if it has metastasized to his brain. He will have a port placed a few days later and be meeting with a radiologist. Two types of chemotherapy (Paclitaxel & Carboplatin) and radiation are starting on February 19. He will be having chemo and radiation for a minimum of 7 weeks, and then imaging will be done to see where he is. He has been told no matter what, he is NOT a candidate for surgery, so they are hoping to push the cancer into remission.

I am reaching out because Bil is on a limited income and his insurance does not cover much. His bills are very quickly piling up. I am also on a fixed income as I, too, have health issues, and there is no one else in our family that is able to help more than a little bit. Here are the types of things your donation(s) would cover:

- Medical bills (chemotherapy treatments, radiation treatments, doctor/specialist visits, etc.)

- Transportation (gas) to and from the hospital for treatments and appointments

- Medications

- Medical supplies and equipment

- Cleaning supplies

- Nutritional Supplements such as protein drinks, etc.

My dad has always pushed himself, and he says he will fight this and will not give up. He wants more time with his children and his grandchildren. Bil is such a loving, caring, strong, compassionate person (and he can also be pretty darn stubborn!). He has a great appreciation for music, history, WW2 airplanes (my grandfather flew them), and so much more.

Please help me, help him fight. Thank you.