Community supports 29 year old Cancer Patient with Benefit

By Nadia Crow, Reporter

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By KCRG Intern

Story Created: Jan 8, 2012 at 12:14 AM CDT

Story Updated: Jan 8, 2012 at 12:14 AM CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS- A 29-year-old Cedar Rapids man fights for his life in a battle against stage four esophageal cancer that’s spreading throughout his body.

Saturday, family and friends held a spaghetti benefit for Chad Parks hoping to raise thousands of dollars at Calvary Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids.

“My wife and I got married five years ago in November we had our first child basically nine months later and now we have three daughters,” esophageal cancer patient Chad Parks said.

But what Parks thought was severe acid reflux last January, soon turned into a devastating diagnosis last April: stage four esophageal cancer.

“It was a shock. It was a big shock it kind of threw everything for a loop,” Parks said.

Everything and everyone in Parks’ life were turned upside down.

“I dropped to my knees and started crying because our mother has stage four cancer as well,” Park's older sister and benefit organizer Christine Blanchett. said

Blanchett watched her baby brother suffer along with his family. Parks couldn’t work and now faces financial hardship.

“We all just got together and got a crew together and did all this,” Blanchett said.

A spaghetti dinner, bake sale, and silent auction hoping for some 2,500 people to help raise thousands of dollars for Parks to pay for medical bills and prescriptions. Some people have already chipped in.

“Thank you very much. It’s such a blessing that everybody would do this for our family and a lot of them don’t even know us,” Parks said.

The cancer is spreading from his esophagus to the lymph nodes to the pelvis and now to the water lining around his brain, but optimism and a brighter future with his family keep Parks going.

“I want to see them grow up. I want to see them graduate. I want to see them get married. That’s kind of my goal,” Parks said.

The Parks family hopes to raise some $20,000 from Saturday’s benefit. If you’d like to donate, there’s a Chad Parks fund set-up at Collins Community Credit Union.

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