Photo: Courtesy Thomas HeafnerChristmas has always been a holiday close to Andrew Heafner’s heart, and when the father of four from Missouri decided to decline his difficult treatment for cancer, his family decided to get an early start to the holiday season just for him.“Christmas has been my dad’s favorite holiday ever since I’ve known,” Heafner’s son, Thomas, tells PEOPLE. “It just means pretty much everything to our family, and it always has.”While the first year-and-half of treatment had gone well following Heafner’s colon cancer diagnosis in May 2017, a trip to the hospital on July 6 showed he was experiencing kidney failure, which can sometimes be a side effect ofcertain kinds of chemotherapy medications.Doctors placed Heafner on dialysis — but over the course of the next two weeks, the long sessions became too much for the 65-year-old to endure. After he fainted during a dialysis appointment, Heafner told his family that he was ready to forgo further treatment, even if it meant it would dramatically cut his survival outlook from weeks to days.Courtesy Thomas Heafner“He decided just to give the last few days to family,” Thomas, 29, says, “and spend as much time with all of us as he can.”TheAmerican Cancer Societyestimates that there will be 97,000 new cases of colon and rectal cancer this year, and more than 50,000 are expected to die from it.Heafner had long talked about his desire to survive long enough to spend one last Christmas with his family, but with his health worsening, Thomas knew the family would have to improvise. So on July 28, his mom and three siblings worked to find as many decorations as they could to throw a Christmas party in a summer’s day.“We called friends, they came over, they put up the lights,” Thomas says. “I called one of my friends who lives down the road, asked if I could borrow their fake Christmas tree, because that’s one thing that we didn’t have since we always get a real tree.”Within hours, the family had filled a tree with ornaments and lights, complete with an angel at the top. They made Christmas-inspired meals, and wrapped presents for the children in the family. And because Heafner was sound asleep while the family was preparing the party, he woke up to a Christmas surprise.Courtesy Thomas Heafner“He took a nap while all of our friends were outside putting lights up, and he was still sleeping when we got a tree put together,” Thomas explains. “He pretty much woke up and then our entire family’s here and we’re celebrating Christmas. It was a shock to him.”While the only thing missing was the eggnog during their Christmas celebration, Heafner was all smiles, which was a welcome escape from the difficulties the family is going through.“He enjoyed it,” Thomas says. “He really wasn’t expecting it!”The family is now hoping to raise money through theirGoFundMe pageand an upcoming community barbeque to pay Heafner’s medical bills. So far, they have raised $500 or their $20,000 goal.
Photo: Courtesy Thomas Heafner
Christmas has always been a holiday close to Andrew Heafner’s heart, and when the father of four from Missouri decided to decline his difficult treatment for cancer, his family decided to get an early start to the holiday season just for him.“Christmas has been my dad’s favorite holiday ever since I’ve known,” Heafner’s son, Thomas, tells PEOPLE. “It just means pretty much everything to our family, and it always has.”While the first year-and-half of treatment had gone well following Heafner’s colon cancer diagnosis in May 2017, a trip to the hospital on July 6 showed he was experiencing kidney failure, which can sometimes be a side effect ofcertain kinds of chemotherapy medications.Doctors placed Heafner on dialysis — but over the course of the next two weeks, the long sessions became too much for the 65-year-old to endure. After he fainted during a dialysis appointment, Heafner told his family that he was ready to forgo further treatment, even if it meant it would dramatically cut his survival outlook from weeks to days.Courtesy Thomas Heafner“He decided just to give the last few days to family,” Thomas, 29, says, “and spend as much time with all of us as he can.”TheAmerican Cancer Societyestimates that there will be 97,000 new cases of colon and rectal cancer this year, and more than 50,000 are expected to die from it.Heafner had long talked about his desire to survive long enough to spend one last Christmas with his family, but with his health worsening, Thomas knew the family would have to improvise. So on July 28, his mom and three siblings worked to find as many decorations as they could to throw a Christmas party in a summer’s day.“We called friends, they came over, they put up the lights,” Thomas says. “I called one of my friends who lives down the road, asked if I could borrow their fake Christmas tree, because that’s one thing that we didn’t have since we always get a real tree.”Within hours, the family had filled a tree with ornaments and lights, complete with an angel at the top. They made Christmas-inspired meals, and wrapped presents for the children in the family. And because Heafner was sound asleep while the family was preparing the party, he woke up to a Christmas surprise.Courtesy Thomas Heafner“He took a nap while all of our friends were outside putting lights up, and he was still sleeping when we got a tree put together,” Thomas explains. “He pretty much woke up and then our entire family’s here and we’re celebrating Christmas. It was a shock to him.”While the only thing missing was the eggnog during their Christmas celebration, Heafner was all smiles, which was a welcome escape from the difficulties the family is going through.“He enjoyed it,” Thomas says. “He really wasn’t expecting it!”The family is now hoping to raise money through theirGoFundMe pageand an upcoming community barbeque to pay Heafner’s medical bills. So far, they have raised $500 or their $20,000 goal.
Christmas has always been a holiday close to Andrew Heafner’s heart, and when the father of four from Missouri decided to decline his difficult treatment for cancer, his family decided to get an early start to the holiday season just for him.
“Christmas has been my dad’s favorite holiday ever since I’ve known,” Heafner’s son, Thomas, tells PEOPLE. “It just means pretty much everything to our family, and it always has.”
While the first year-and-half of treatment had gone well following Heafner’s colon cancer diagnosis in May 2017, a trip to the hospital on July 6 showed he was experiencing kidney failure, which can sometimes be a side effect ofcertain kinds of chemotherapy medications.
Doctors placed Heafner on dialysis — but over the course of the next two weeks, the long sessions became too much for the 65-year-old to endure. After he fainted during a dialysis appointment, Heafner told his family that he was ready to forgo further treatment, even if it meant it would dramatically cut his survival outlook from weeks to days.
Courtesy Thomas Heafner
“He decided just to give the last few days to family,” Thomas, 29, says, “and spend as much time with all of us as he can.”
TheAmerican Cancer Societyestimates that there will be 97,000 new cases of colon and rectal cancer this year, and more than 50,000 are expected to die from it.
Heafner had long talked about his desire to survive long enough to spend one last Christmas with his family, but with his health worsening, Thomas knew the family would have to improvise. So on July 28, his mom and three siblings worked to find as many decorations as they could to throw a Christmas party in a summer’s day.
“We called friends, they came over, they put up the lights,” Thomas says. “I called one of my friends who lives down the road, asked if I could borrow their fake Christmas tree, because that’s one thing that we didn’t have since we always get a real tree.”
Within hours, the family had filled a tree with ornaments and lights, complete with an angel at the top. They made Christmas-inspired meals, and wrapped presents for the children in the family. And because Heafner was sound asleep while the family was preparing the party, he woke up to a Christmas surprise.
“He took a nap while all of our friends were outside putting lights up, and he was still sleeping when we got a tree put together,” Thomas explains. “He pretty much woke up and then our entire family’s here and we’re celebrating Christmas. It was a shock to him.”
While the only thing missing was the eggnog during their Christmas celebration, Heafner was all smiles, which was a welcome escape from the difficulties the family is going through.
“He enjoyed it,” Thomas says. “He really wasn’t expecting it!”
The family is now hoping to raise money through theirGoFundMe pageand an upcoming community barbeque to pay Heafner’s medical bills. So far, they have raised $500 or their $20,000 goal.
source: people.com
