Main fundraiser photo

Walter (Buster) Hafner has cancer

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The photo is of my two brothers, Roger on the right and Buster on the left. Roger drove from Oklahoma to Kansas over July 4th weekend this summer to help Buster finish painting our parents' home. Buster said he wanted to accomplish this huge task before he couldn't physically push himself.

Buster is  single and has always been the strong-willed sort of guy. He has gotten into trouble in the past and paid his dues for his choices. He joined the Army as a teenager during the Vietnam era and was honorably discharged. In July, he turned 61.

This year has been the most challenging for Buster.  In February, he injured himself at work when a stomp shear accident partially amputated his left thumb for which he had surgery to re-attach and pin it in place. While he was on workers' compensation medical leave, he went to the VA Medical Center for an exam as he couldn't swallow. The results of a scan in March was Stage 4 esophageal cancer which matastisized into his lung. He then began chemotherapy. In April, he had a tracheostomy and began loosing his hair from the chemo. He is still having chemo treatments, cat scans, he uses an aspriator machine many times throughout each day, and is limited on the food he can consume. Each day, several times a day he strangles to the point of being faint.  

His workers' compensation Doctor has reported he has reached Maximum Medical Improvement and is released to work.  (His last W/C payment was July 6th.) But, due to his cancer and treatments, he is unable to work. Therefore, he is not qualified for unemployment.  Because  the W/C benefits were being paid, he was denied Old Age Pension in the county that he lives. But, one saving grace is that his application for SSDI has been approved, which wil start paying him at the end of September. 

One final, and difficult to control pest that he has been attempting to irradicate is bed bugs that he brought home from a part time demolition job that he worked. Because Buster lives in a travel trailer in a motel / RV park, he constantly sprays and dusts.  But, with his trache, it is more dangerous and difficult to breathe in his home.  

So, the reason for this GoFundMe page is to help with his September rent and utilities to start. But also to locate a clean used trailer with an air conditioner that works and a tub that is not cracked for him to live out the rest of his life with his BFF, Shenshen - his miniature pincher. 

Please take a moment and give thanks for what you have and consider sharing with a man who is struggling, yet determined to live! Thank you!
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    Organizer and beneficiary

    Lois A Philman
    Organizer
    Brighton, CO
    Walter Hafner, III
    Beneficiary

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