Supporting Scott's Recovery From Cancer

Hi, my name is Ashley Hyde and I am a friend fundraising for a local San Clemente family who has given so much to the community, and could now use our help.

Meet the Langston Family: Scott, Debbie, and their 17-year-old twins Natalie and Olivia. Scott and Debbie own and manage Beach Town Books in San Clemente, they acquired the business seven years ago and poured all their energy into turning it around and making it a thriving, sweet bookstore. Although Debbie is on the front lines managing the operation and developing the business, the person that has been working behind the scenes pulling 1:00 AM nights and doing the real heavy lifting to make it all come full circle is Scott. Scott is a father who loves his family, his town, working out and surfing. As an avid surfer and sun lover, he came across some very bad luck in 2022, and now has not been at the bookstore since May 2022.

Scott went in for a non-healing scab on his forehead last year that grew to an 11-cm tumor in just four weeks. Once biopsied, it was diagnosed to be a Squamous Cell Carcinoma (skin cancer). After the excision (which went down to his skull), while waiting to do a plastic surgery repair it quickly metastasized down to the parotid gland in his neck. This led to a partial parotidectomy procedure. Just before he made it to the radiation phase of treatment it metastasized again. In five weeks it went from feeling like a swollen lymph node to being a 22-cm tumor the size of a small football on his neck that pushed his trachea (esophagus) over. It was just 2cm away from eating through his carotid artery. On January 4, 2023 Scott went into treatment at California Proton. He finished treatment including chemo and radiation in March 2023. He was unable to eat for six months due to the deformation of his trachea and the radiation burning his tongue. In the process he lost 75 lbs.

Now, the cancer is gone and the open wound is slowly healing. His life has drastically changed over the last 18 months. On the heels of a pandemic, his family has been incredibly strong in supporting him, but as you can imagine it has been very taxing on all of them to watch him get so beat down by this battle.

While Scott is making a recovery and slowly getting back to the things we all take for granted daily (eating, going in public, drinking, etc.) he still has a long way to go. In this process, Debbie has worked double duty to manage the bookstore and support her family. Inevitably, steep medical bills and expenses have piled up totalling $75,000 and counting while Scott is recovering and still unable to work.

Scott is young (in his 50's) and has gone through such a difficult time with this aggressive cancer. Debbie works so hard to push through and somehow always manages to have a sweet demeanor and a smile on her face, finding gratitude in what they do have. I felt compelled to start this GFM fundraiser because they have given nothing but positive energy and love to their community and their bookstore, and I'd love to see us help in the small ways we can!

All funds will go towards paying off medical bills and keeping up with the treatment bills that continue to flow in as Scott embarks on his recovery. Thank you so much for your kind donation.