- What a tragedy!
Wouldn’t you hate to work hard your whole life only to see everything fall apart just before retirement and the good life?
Paul Taylor is a great guy. He loves his wife. Loves his 7 kids and 21 grandkids. Loves the outdoors. Loves hockey. Loves a good joke. He’s smart. Educated. Well spoken. Hard working. Has lots of friends.
Paul Taylor has Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer.
Long ago, Paul worked his way up the ladder for a large home improvement store chain in the Northwest. He became a manager and, eventually, a store “fixer” – the guy the company would send in to straighten out a struggling store. Paul and his family had a good life. He put in a lot of hours, but the pay was good – until it wasn’t. The store chain filed bankruptcy, and Paul was suddenly out of a job.
Paul dusted himself off and went to work only being jobless for 2 days as he knew that he had a large family to support. He started at the bottom, working in the warehouse for a large, national distributor named Bunzl. This was far below the work he had been doing, but he felt fortunate to find a job.
Paul worked hard. He worked smart. He worked himself out of the warehouse and into the office as a buyer. After some years, he became the Purchasing Manager. He put in a lot of hours. To be more productive, he would arrive at work before 5:00 AM, before the phones started to ring. He always said he would leave at 1:00 or 2:00, but mostly, he was there until at least 5:00. Paul was recognized throughout this national company.
Paul’s youngest son was born – Tuff. (Yes. He named him Tuff.) At birth Tuff had some very serious health problems. With the help of a lot of modern medicine, Tuff eventually got better. The medical bills were over $1,000,000. Paul’s health insurance paid most of it. Paul loves that boy! (He really loves all his children.) He was so grateful to the company for such good insurance that he vowed to always stay there and do his best to improve the company.
In 2000, Paul’s oldest son, Mark, passed away, leaving behind 6 younger siblings; Jill, Shari, Stephanie, Zack, Khylie, and Tuff.
Paul had always held a love for the game of hockey. He continued to play through his youth and into his adult years. He loved nothing more than hitting the ice hard and hitting the opponents harder. He taught all 7 of his kids to skate and to play hockey, even the girls. Some joined teams while others just enjoyed watching hockey and ice skating when they could.
He coached a bunch of kids and taught them to become wonderful human beings. They all had great growing experiences in local, competetive, and club play. Paul and his wife, Kristi, were always involved. (Kristi was known for her ability to run the clock and scoreboard for the games. She was so good, that she also worked the Olympic and Paralympic games during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.) All 4 of the girls, Jill, Shari, Stephanie, and Khylie, learned how to scorekeep the game of hockey and run all the time clocks.
Some years later, Paul developed a lifelong project. He had a dream of living in the high mountains, away from the crowds. He wanted a place where he and his family could hunt and fish and enjoy nature. He found a piece of land between Strawberry and Starvation Reservoirs, great lakes for rainbow trout. He started building in Fruitland, Utah.
From then on, whenever Paul had extra time, or even when he didn’t. He would drive the 2-1/2 hours up to “the property” and work. Any extra money went into building a house, providing water, installing solar power, and clearing the land around his house. In winter, he had to deal with multiple feet of snow in that high country. He built everything on a shoestring budget, using elbow grease, and shoe leather. He had his kids for additional labor. They worked hard and learned a lot. Paul loved working with all of his kids and teaching them about nature and the land and that hard work matters.
One year a devastating forest fire, the Dollar Ridge Fire, raged through those mountains. When he went back to the property, he found everything on the mountainside blackened and burned to the ground … except for a decent-sized green spot where his home and belongings resided. He only lost one outlying shed with a lot of equipment, but their home was intact.
God loves this man.
Paul had a plan to work until he was at least 65 and then retire to his dream home in the mountains. He was aware that Bunzl was executing a multi-year plan to streamline their business to remain strong in a very competitive environment. Paul was aware that they were slowly working towards centralizing a lot of branch functions. He could foresee that, eventually, they would no longer have Purchasing Managers in each branch. All Paul could do was work toward his plan for retirement.
In the past several years, Kristi had developed some breathing and mobility difficulties. Eventually, she was unable to work. She is currently receiving Social Security disability benefits.
At the end of April 2023, Bunzl eliminated Paul’s branch position. He was offered the opportunity to move to Arizona to continue working for the company. That did not seem like a good option.
Paul was 18 months away from being eligible for Medicare. He used his savings to pay off his debts. He grabbed an expensive, make-do healthcare policy to hold him over until he could qualify for Medicare. He wasn’t sure how much that policy would cover, but it would have to do for the short-term. He, and Kristi, and their 9-year-old triplet grandsons would live on his Social Security and Kristi’s Social Security Disability. He’s a hard worker and strong so he figured maybe he could find a part-time job for extra cash.
Paul had always been a stout, strong man with a lot of energy. Some joint replacement surgeries had slowed him down, but he still put in a long day of work. At the end of 2023, Paul started losing weight. He wasn’t on a diet. He was eating normally, but he was getting thinner. In 6 months he lost 115 pounds.
Paul was diagnosed with a condition that was preventing him from digesting food. Paul went to the ER at the University of Utah Hospital on January 5th with severe malnutrition, where he spent 17 days. It turns out, he did not have the condition that was originally diagnosed.
Paul Taylor has Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer.
The Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake City is one of the great cancer treatment and research centers in the United States. Paul has found help there with world-class oncologists.
Paul and Kristi are currently living with their son, Tuff, who lives just west of Salt Lake. Paul cannot be 2-1/2 hours away from doctors and hospital care.
Paul has begun treatments with chemotherapy. This is an effort to shrink the tumor on his pancreas. That tumor has grown large enough to put pressure on other adjacent organs. That is the reason Paul has had trouble digesting food. As the tumor shrinks, he should get some relief.
The treatments are not as harsh as they could be. Paul’s current health has weakened him so much that he could not tolerate a more aggressive treatment. He needs to gain strength. The plan is to remove the tumor once it has shrunken, and Paul is stronger.
There will be more treatments to come – chemotherapy, surgery, radiation. Some of it is painful. All of it saps your strength and energy. He will also spend time in the hospital.
It is all very expensive.
Please help Paul and his family. Mostly, he needs your prayers. He also needs money to pay the bills left over from what insurance does not cover, as well as living expenses.
Thank you for reading this, and God Bless you!
3/12/2024
We had a bit of a scare at the beginning of the month.
Paul became very dehrydrated and was not strong enough to receive his 2nd round of chemo. The doctor’s were fabulous and gave him several liters of fluid that helped him gain some strength back.
BUT….
On March 1st, Paul was admitted to Hunstman Cancer Hospital with a fever of 104.1. They immediately started him on IV antibiotics although they did not know as of yet what was causing the fever.
After many tests, it was determined that his biliary drain (a line that goes inside from his liver down to his small intestines and also has a tube that comes out to a drain bag) was occluded (clogged) and would once again need to be replaced (this was his 8th one).
He was discharged on March 5th and we see the oncology team on March 13 so see if, and when he will be able to start the 2nd round of chemo.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
God Bless all of you
Update 4/3/2024:
Paul was able to begin Round 2 of chemo on March 22. We finally got the infection from the biliary line under control, hopefully it will stay that way. Round 2 Dose 3 will be on Friday, April 5th.
The bad news that we received was that unfortunately the tumor has grown a little bit. It is believed to be because Round 2 of chemo was delayed almost 5 weeks due to the infections in the biliary line. The goal is to finish Round 2 of chemo, then a week off, then begin Round 3 of chemo that will last 3 weeks. After Round 3 we will be seeing the surgical oncologist as he is hoping to be able to due surgery to remove the tumor in early June.
The tumor more than likely will return (90% chance) but removing the tumor will decrease the pressure inside of Paul so that he is more comfortable and can enjoy life a little.
We appreciate your continued support.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
God Bless all of you.