Stand with Sam and Bonita Nelson

Hi, I'm Cameo. I'm Sam and Bonita Nelson's daughter.

You see, my dad has always worked. He loved driving a big rig for as long as I can remember in my 31 years of life. Last year, he semi retired and worked part time and started drawing his social security. A few weeks before Christmas, one of their drivers was in an accident and my dad picked up some extra hours to help out until his co worker could return to work.

The weak before Christmas, we noticed he seemed to be off. Just minor things, nothing alarming, but when we would ask about it, he would just say that he was tired an needed to go to bed.

December 21st, 2024, my mom got a phone call from daddy's boss about 8 p.m. He told her that he had noticed all week that daddy seemed to be forgetful or a little confused at times. He just wasn't himself, but again daddy just said he was tired. So, his boss continued on to tell her that when he pulled in to the yard to park his truck for the night, he couldn't park it. He tried 4 or 5 times before his boss finally came to do it for him. He asked daddy to wait because he wanted to follow him home. Well, daddy didn't wait on him which is what prompted him to call mama and tell her that he wanted to know when daddy got home, but he absolutely could not come back to work until he had a doctors note.

Well, that was Saturday the 21st. When daddy got home around 8 p.m., mama said he couldn't get up their two little front porch steps, she had to go help him up them. (Keep in mind, mama only has one good arm that is fully functional) She got him to the kitchen table and noticed he was dragging his right leg. Then when he was eating his dinner, he was kind of falling over into the plate. He went to take his boots off and put his pajamas on, but he was unable to get his boots off, she had to do it for him; and when she did he was so weak it pulled him off the bed. When he got to the recliner in the living room, mama was watching him very closely and his mouth was drooping to the right and his tongue was deviating to the right.

So, she texted me and told me everything and said she was trying to talk him into going to the emergency room, but he was refusing until after he had a shower. He absolutely would not go because he was too tired to shower and claimed he just needed rest. (All the while, mom and I are thinking stroke)

Sunday morning, the 22nd, I took the shower chair that I had borrowed back to their house and told him to get a shower because he was going to the emergency room like it or not. He didn't argue this time. He just looked at us and said, "I know y'all think I've done had a stroke." We both said yes and hurried him to the shower all the while realizing that he was worse now than he was the night before. He was very confused and slow to respond.

Anyways, we got to the emergency room and they took him immediately and started stroke protocol. First up was lab work and then a CT scan of the brain. Unfortunately, when the doctor came back in with the CT results, we absolutely were not prepared for what he said. He said, "I'm sorry, but there is no evidence of a stroke. He has upward of 3 masses in his brain. I've talked to neuro and they feel you need to be admitted so they'll be down shortly to talk with you and tell you what comes next."

When the hospitalist came in, she told us that she wanted to get additional CT's of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis because the types of tumors they were seeing in his brain usually don't start there. They usually start in the lungs or liver or something like that. So, the CT did show a mass in his lung and he would need to be admitted to get an MRI.

They did an MRI and then we transferred him to Self Regional because we wanted to use their cancer center. When we had the first visit with the oncologist, he went over the MRI results with us. This is when we found out that daddy had SEVEN masses in his brain, one being on the brain stem. The still only saw the one in his lung at this time, but he later had a pet scan that showed a lower lobe mass, and upper lobe mass, and a mass on the adrenal gland.

He was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic, small cell carcinoma that was extremely aggressive because just 9 months prior the same imaging from a car accident they were in, showed nothing! This all happened in 9 months time. It is that aggressive.

The prognosis was the next sack of bricks hitting us. The oncologist told us without treatment he only had 2-4 WEEKS!! Weeks y'all!! With treatment, the average is between 10-18 months. He was very unsure about the chemo, but he decided to do the 10 rounds of radiation while we waited on labs to see if he could qualify for just the immunotherapy pill without having to do chemo. Unfortunately, he did not qualify, but he did finally agree to do chemo and immunotherapy since he could stop at any time he chose if it was too harsh for him.

Well, January 2nd, 2025, he had been off of the steroids for a week (per the oncologist) and his symptoms were back. He was weak and tired and again found himself physically impaired. We called the cancer center because he was supposed to start chemo and immunotherapy February 5th. They wanted us to come on in and get additional imaging before starting the chemo and immunotherapy instead of after. So, off we went. Once we got there, he had another CT scan, which showed a lot of blood and swelling of the brain. Four of the tumors were bleeding. They admitted him to ICU for the night so they could get an MRI the following morning.

His new MRI should the same thing, lots of bleeding on the brain and swelling. The oncologist came by his room and broke the news to us that he was no longer a good candidate for the treatment. He could do it if he wanted too, but he would not have quality of life given the new events and his goal (and ours) from square one was to have quality of life over quantity. She told us that if he wanted quality, it was time to call hospice. Unfortunately, bleeding on the brain doesn't really give a prognosis. Mainly because it can get worse at any given time or it could get better, but it is less likely to get better. She told him that he could go home and not make it through the night, or he could still be alive in a few weeks. It just depends on what the bleeding does.

So, yesterday, February 3rd, 2025, daddy was sent home under the care of hospice.

Unfortunately, without daddy working, their income is very limited. He didn't have life insurance through his employer, but he had a policy he took out with Mutual of Omaha. Sadly, we don't know if it will pay out or not because he hasn't had the policy long enough and if he passes before February 22nd, mama will only get back the premiums they paid in instead of getting the insurance funds.

When the time comes, mama will have to find somewhere else to live because without his income, she will not be able to stay where she is. She is going to need a few months to fully process everything and get used to a new normal before she will be ready to move. I want to take some of that stress off of her so she isn't dealing with so much stress all at one time. Daddy didn't really have any retirement either so there is nothing there to depend on.

So, these funds will be to help with funeral arrangements, costs of cremation and urn, and giving mama a little nest egg to get her through the grieving process until she is prepared to start her next stressful journey of moving to a new place to call home.

We appreciate everything that has been done for our family during this time. The calls, texts, visits, and especially the prayer! Please keep it coming!

Please if you can, donate, even a dollar adds up if everyone chips in. If you aren't able, we ask that you at least share this to get it out there to others who might can or feel lead to do so.

God bless you all!