Iron Will Cancer Support Fund

How do you put into simple words the importance of someone’s life and all the love they represent? William Pearce, 35, is a devoted and fiercely loyal husband, son, grandson, brother, and friend. He is my cousin. When we were young, he carried me around until he physically couldn’t. Looking back, this was my first awareness that William would devote his entire life to serving others.

William is an Emergency Medicine Physician. He spent the first two years out of his residency treating, coding, saving, and healing patients during the first and second COVID surges. When he wasn’t in the Emergency Department, he was training and racing as an elite triathlete. William married the love of his life, Michaelia, in May of this year (2022). Shortly after their wedding, William and Michaelia moved from Florida to Texas so Michaelia could pursue her surgical fellowship, and William continued commuting from TX to FL to practice in his hospital system in Jacksonville, FL. In August, William thought he had a stomach ulcer and was seen for diagnostic testing. What was found was not an ulcer, but late stage aggressive and rare esophageal cancer.

When Will received his diagnosis, his family dropped everything to move to Texas to be close to support and care for him. When I asked him what he needed, his first answer was “prayer,” and then his second was “for my family to be supported.” William has insisted that Michaelia continue in her program so she can “finish training and be strong on the other side of this, whatever that looks like.”

This fund serves to support William as he takes on his most intense fight to date, to alleviate financial burden and offset the costs of treatment, and to give him comfort in knowing his family is also supported. Above all, William and The Pearce Family deeply request your prayers to The Greatest Physician. We do not ask for your help lightly… we know the past couple of years have been unthinkably challenging, and we are so grateful for the time you have taken to read his story, join our fight, and consider supporting in any way you can.