Stage 4 Cancer and Loss of Home: The Kirchers

My friends’ (Paul and Diana Kircher) story is Biblically Job-like, both in the losses that have beset them and in the patience and grace they demonstrate daily despite their travail. If there was ever a couple that could use a little help from their friends and the community, it is Paul and Diana. For your consideration, this is their story in brief.

After serving in Alaska in the Coast Guard, Paul moved back to California. In 1981, Paul and his first wife adopted a newborn son, Brian, who was given up for adoption by the 16-year-old birth mother. Paul’s first wife soon abandoned both Paul and Brian. Paul sued for and obtained sole custody of Brian and raised him as a single parent while working as an IT tech. Her husband also abandoned Diana after working to put him through Med School. Paul and Diana found each other and married in 2002.

Paul and Diana left CA in 2011 for a more affordable community in TN, where they hoped to build a life with Brian.

Two years later, Brian died in an accident at age 31. Paul’s only sibling, Joan, died unexpectedly in CA shortly after. Then Diana’s only sibling, Dan, died in MI just after that from issues related to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. Paul and Diana’s only close family were all suddenly gone.

Diana was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2016 (just before her Medicare eligibility). Diana completed cancer treatments in 2019. Surgeries, chemo, and radiation drained whatever retirement assets they had, forcing them to do a reverse mortgage on their TN home to lower monthly expenses. To this day, they continue to pay monthly payments to the hospital and doctors that treated Diana from 2016-2019.

In 2022, Diana was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The breast cancer had metastasized into her lung. She is receiving monthly shots and pills to hold her cancer in check. Diana is doing well under this regimen, but the meds are expensive and in the ‘donut hole’, with about $1,100 per month not covered by any insurance. The new expense threatens their ability to hold onto their home and is potentially the straw that could break the proverbial camel’s back.

Using this GoFundMe site is all I can think of as a means to help them. If just 40 people donate the equivalent of $25 per month, their financial issues are manageable.

I cannot stand by and watch them lose their home given all they have already lost. All they want to do is pay their debts and take care of each other, best they can. Please help by donating and sharing with whatever social network you may have. Thanks for your consideration.

Biz Randle of Lancaster, Ohio,

A high school friend of Paul, MFHS ’67, Vir Fidelis