Alan Spann

2014 Grant Recipient

  • I have been trying to come up with the right words to describe just how thankful and grateful we are to Harley Helping Hands for the generous gift you have given us! It has been very difficult indeed to put this gratitude into words because there just are no words to completely describe it. When I first heard that we were getting this grant I said finally some good news, after all the bad news in the past 19 months.

    My husband was a healthy, 58 year old man when he began having some vision problems and since he has always had low vision we naturally assumed it was eyes and made an appointment with the eye doc. This was in June of 2013. Then he started having orientation problems as well. He went to work one morning and had a bad headache and was also sick at his stomach. He came home and I just thought it was the flu, but I called his primary doc's office and the nurse there urged us to go to ER. Well they did some tests and an MRI and found a very large tumor on his right frontal lobe that was pushing his entire brain over to the other side.

    He was then transferred to Barnes Hospital in St Louis where they did surgery on Aug 2, 2013 and removed all they could and said he would need chemo and radiation. Since we live in Springfield Illinois so he did the standard of treatment here and then the tumor started to grow again he was put on chemo IV. He has had 2 strokes and now has a blood clot in his brain. So over the past 6 months he has lost all his vision and after his last stroke he has not been able to walk without a walker.

    Something like this can sure turn your world upside down in a hurry. It is devastating to deal with physically, emotionally and financially. Many thanks to everyone at Harley Helping Hands who made this grant possible, we will never forget your caring generosity. I plan on paying this forward in every way I can to make this wonderful gift available to others who are in need of help during their darkest hours.

    Many thanks again to Harley Helping Hands, your organization makes this world a much better place. It's nice to know that there are still a few good, caring and honest people in this world who do actually make a difference!!

    Sincerely,
    Cindy & Alan Spann

    Cindy Spann
    Wife of Alan Spann
    Springfield, IL