Hi everyone! Several people have reached out asking how they can help, so Kent and I talked about starting a fundraiser to help with medical costs and travel expenses. Above all things, we seek your prayers for healing for his body. Kent’s testimony is huge and is still being written. A small portion will be shared to help you understand why and where we are today.
In January of 2025, Kent was diagnosed with liver cancer. This is the 4th cancer that he has been diagnosed with since 1985 when he first had cancer. Kent has suffered many side effects from the treatments of his cancer in the 80s due to the chemo drugs that were used. Some of the side effects include damage to his kidneys and liver, hearing loss, and neuropathy.
He lost the total function of his right kidney in 2011 when he was diagnosed with his 2nd cancer. It was teratoma carcinoma located near his kidney resulting in back pain, which is how we found it. After surgery, he went into abdominal compartment syndrome and everything shut down. We were told his mortality rate was high, but after 31 days in Chapel Hill, praise God, he was discharged to go home but knew that his right kidney did not wake back up. So at this point, he had one kidney functioning, and it was already damaged from previous chemo drugs.
His left kidney has worked hard since then but continued to decrease in its functioning abilities. In 2023, he had a fistula put in his arm to prepare for dialysis due to his renal failure. We were told he would be on dialysis by Christmas of 2024…BUT GOD he wasn’t, and his kidney continued to function around 10%.
In April, they decided to treat the liver cancer with a procedure called Y-90. This is a radioembolization treatment where spheres are inserted directly into the liver to kill the cancer cells. We are believing that the procedure worked and continue to pray that the next scans, in July, show that he has been healed.
Kent also has an area of his colon that has been a concern, resulting in colonoscopies every 3 months. The polyps that they remove are precancerous, and he makes polyps like a machine. His last colonoscopy was on Friday, June 6. After the procedure, we went home, and Kent started to have severe pain and loss of movement in his right shoulder. I called the number back to Chapel Hill and was advised to bring him back. He was admitted last Saturday and was discharged on Sunday. He continued to decline, losing the ability to do anything for himself, including walking, sitting up, or even raising his arms to rub his eye. I brought him back to Chapel Hill, and they admitted him again on Tuesday, and we are still here. After many teams of doctors and evaluations, we were told his kidney function dropped from 11% to 6%. His body was filled with toxins. They started dialysis, and improvement could already be seen. We give praise that after 3 treatments he is able to do normal life skills like feeding himself, sitting up, brushing his teeth, and so much more. His muscles are weak, but with physical therapy and occupational therapy, he will get stronger.
Due to having stage 5 renal failure, we completed the process and gained approval in 2023 for him to be placed on the kidney transplant list. We are now in the process of completing the requirements for a liver transplant. He will have both the kidney and liver transplant done at the same time when that time comes.
Thank you for staying with me to tell about just some of his current and history medical needs. As you can tell, Kent has been through so much over the years, but God has never left him nor forsaken him. He has given him the strength he needed to push through. Kent will continue to receive dialysis 3 times a week to live with kidney failure. We will continue to travel to Chapel Hill to meet with his teams of doctors. As I previously stated, prayers are needed above all. We know we serve a can-do God! If you feel led to make a monetary donation, we thank you and will use it to continue to pay for Kent’s medical expenses.
