Tarun Mehras Stand Up 2 Cancer Fund

It's never easy to understand why bad things happen to good people. It's a concept nearly impossible to fathom when that person is the absolute love of your life and the glue that holds the family together. The story you are about to read is told on behalf of Tarun ("T") by his three loving children Neel, Tania and Ty.
Our father was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphaphatic Lukemia (CLL) in 2010. He was a healthy active man his entire life. We were devastated to find that there was no cure for this type of cancer and that the football sized tumor in his stomach grew around a major artery so surgery was also not an option. Our world was flipped upside down. Dad suffered through chemotherapy and radiation until the cancer was at bay. It wasn't until a year later when we found out that dads cancer had reared its ugly face once again agressively. He was given an expiration date of one year. His only chance at survival was a bone marrow transplant. At this time his children enlisted in the bone marrow registry hoping that they could be a possible match for either their father or someone else in need. Miraculously we found a donor. The next three years would be the toughest thing the Mehra family would ever endure. T could no longer work and his wife took on the load of supporting her husband and their household financially and becoming her husbands caretaker. During the transplant T had to move to Seattle to have a Bone Marrow Transplant at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. His wife lived there for the first three months of the process and his daughter Tania moved from LA to Seattle for the latter half of the process to relieve Colleen and get her back to work. It was then up to Tania to keep dad healthy and well now that he was immunosuppressed. The fight had only just begun. The willpower and perserverance of this man was mind blowing. His days of wanting to quit were so few and far between the days he put up a fight. There were countless moments where his family would look to him for strength. It's hard to imagine one man going through so much for so many years and still being the light of positivity and hope for all of us. He has taught us the meaning of life and the value of time. We have all made the choice to live harder and love stronger. This time last year our dad could hardly walk. His nails had all fallen off. He couldn't wear shoes or even socks. The slightest drop of water landing on his exposed nail beds sent eletrifying waves of pain throughout the nerves in his body. Fluids oozed from every part of his body. His skin was thin and bruised with visible signs of damaged vessels. His body was rejecting the stem cells and the steroids were wreaking havoc on his organs. Suddenly his 20/20 vision was going and cataracts had developed in both eyes. He continued to fight. A couple weeks ago we got a phone call from our Step Mother Colleen. She had called 911 and dad was rushed to the local hospital by ambulance. Moments later he is being air lifted to a major hospital in Boise.  He had an aortic tear and was knocking on deaths door....again. His wife and daughter slept by his side in ICU for a week as T fought once again for his life. One more of his 9 lives would be deducted. After being sent home to continue his recovery the family had to regroup. We had to pull all our resources and finances together to figure things out. Over the last five years we have pulled from every pocket and exhausted every option. We have managed to stay afloat. We were not expecting an emergency helicopter bill of $10,000. Our step Mother is now suffering from Diabetes and its hard for her to work so many hours, maintain their home and care for our father. We all live in different states so its difficult to be physically present but we do our very best. We need your help. Please consider skipping your starbucks this week to help our Father breathe a little easier. We are participating in a 5K run in November to help with the global awareness of Blood Cancers like our fathers. The love and support over the last five years has been incredible. God hears all your thoughts and prayers and we feel them! Please share and post on your social networking sites!! Lots of love and positive vibrations, The Mehra Family