I wish I had good news, but unfortunately I’m afraid to say the news is not good.

Chad’s time with us may be short. He is being discharged from Good Samaritan Hospital here in Portland and will return home tomorrow. His wife Alina will be Chad’s full-time hospice worker, and she’ll have backup from on-call hospice support staff that will also be making periodic visits to monitor Chad’s status.

We had hoped to get Chad healthy enough for another Hail Mary pass of treatment. He needed to re-enter remission in order to have a bone marrow transplant, and his sister was tested for a marrow match earlier this month at Oregon Health and Sciences University here in Portland. His doctors had recommended another dose of chemotherapy (Hyper CVAD/Ara-C) and a new experimental drug, Rituximab. The hope was that this could be effective enough to get Chad into a transient remission that would allow him to undergo the bone marrow procedure.

Chad right now is fighting a war on a few fronts. First of all, infections are ravaging his body, most noticeably dermal infections that have essentially been with Chad since he was first diagnosed 15 months ago. Antibiotics are not working.

He also has an abscess in his lung that is infectious. It cannot be treated with antibiotics, and Chad would need a lung operation to remove and treat the abscess. Chad’s doctor put the chances of his survival from such an operation at 1%.

Finally, the leukemia itself has mutated and has become particularly virulent. Chad’s body is producing white blood cells, but a large majority of these are leukemic cells. Chad needs chemotherapy to fight the core leukemia, however, it’s a near certainty — considering his body’s fragile state — that the treatment options for his cancer would kill him faster than the cancer itself.

Chad has made a difficult decision. One choice is to go ahead with surgery and chemo, which could lead to a violent, chaotic death in the hospital (his doctor has said this is a near certainty). The other choice is to enter hospice, and allow nature to take its course, and be amongst friends, family, his beautiful wife, and his wonderful little daschund Rocket. Chad has opted — for now — for the latter. He’s been in the hospital now for 9 consecutive weeks. In the last 15 months since he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, he has spent 1/4 of that time in hospitals.

Chad has had enough of hospitals.

There’s always a chance of a miracle. Stranger things have happened. Chad is not giving up, and he asks that you do not either. Keep him in your thoughts and your prayers. But at some point you have to accept the peculiar twists of fate that govern this curious universe. Pay respects to your God, whomever she or he may be.

Finally, many people have inquired about how they can help Chad in these most difficult of times. There’s a lot you can do.

Chad’s wife Alina has essentially been out of work since Chad’s relapse. She could use help with rent, utilities, bills. Chad’s folks have spent thousands already traveling to Portland earlier this month; they could use some help to defray their hotel costs when they travel back up to be with their son in his final days.

Please consider donating to Chad’s fund on his website.

Thank you everyone for your support over these last 15 months. It’s amazing to see the amount of love and regard exhibited from Chad’s friends, old and new. He has been truly blessed.

Kiss your child, your partner, or your mom, dad, brother, or sister tonight for Chad. Tell them you love them.

— Kevin