Mesothelioma and The Basingers

Team fundraiser

Zachary Basinger and Chelsea Basinger are organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

The short version:

My cancer is back, there is a lot of it, and we are going to do what we can...but we have to be realistic with what we are looking at. We have to relocate from our home—and the costs are going to be pretty crazy. We'll be using this page to post updates and my progress through treatment.

The detailed version:

In 2011 I was diagnosed with Mesothelioma. After months in the hospital, a few crazy procedures, chemo, trips to New York, Chicago, and Boston, and about 40 days of radiation, I was very grateful to hear that the disease was contained.

Since then we've done a pretty dang good job at enjoying every day. Chelsea and I were lucky enough to wed in 2012 and in 2016 we moved to Helena, Montana. We fulfilled another dream of building a life in that incredible place, with wonderful people and careers. I have spent nearly the past three years working with Farcountry Press, a fantastic regional publisher...which in itself was a dream come true.

While we knew one day the disease would return, the speed of this growth, and the size of the tumor has caught us by surprise. In February I began feeling increased pain and the MRIs, multiple CTs, PETS, and biopsies confirmed what we already knew–that the cancer has returned.

You better believe we will be aggressive in doing everything possible to put up a good fight. Unfortunately, to do that, Chelsea and I have to move...and do so quickly. We will be relocating to Atlanta to my Mom's (who is graciously sheltering us and our pack of dogs). We are so sad to leave Montana, and our great jobs — but grateful for a place to pool our resources together, heal, and get to work.

I will begin chemotherapy before the end of April.

Unfortunately, because we've been through this before we know the costs of treatment, issues with insurance, cost of moving, loss of income, travel expenses and all the other caveats that come along with having a rare(r) and aggressive cancer.

We know the costs will build, and while I'll do my best to continue to work, it would be prideful and silly to pretend like we don't need help. Over the course of my treatment, I will continue to post updates to this page as we do everything humanly possible to fight this nasty junk and hopefully make all of you proud.

As I've said before - I'm grateful for all of you.

If I don't know you, and you've made it to this page - thank you for being here. We appreciate you too.

Cancer touches us all. There isn't a single person that doesn't have a loved one that hasn't been affected by this disease. It doesn't discriminate, and it is always greedy for more. I say this because we know how many of you have your own wars to fight—and how many of you have lost people you love. In that, we are all united.

The single most helpful thing you can do for me and my family is to share this fundraiser, with a few words of your own, and ask others to share. The rest will fall into place.

We know this is a bummer, and it means a lot that you have taken time out of your day to read this—thank you for that.