Geoffrey W. Donnan Donnan

To the Classmates of Geoff . . I sadly must inform you that he passed on to Glory on Sunday, September 3, 2017. Please update his profile and remove his email addresses from your mailing list. He struggled bravely against pancreatic cancer for 18 months, and he passed on so peaceably at home (Home Hospice) with all the family gathered around!
Thank you for taking care of his profile. Nancy Donnan

Posted on: Apr 20, 2017 at 2:40 PM

Health Update:

I first want to thank many of you for your prayers and support during the last year of my cancer treatment. It has been most used of the Lord and has led to some incredible providence demonstrating to us God's comfort through His people and their prayers.

Nancy and I returned from Houston late Thursday night (4/12/17) exhausted. The results of my Houston trip were twofold, good and bad news. The good news is my diabetes is under good control. The bad news is that my pancreatic cancer has now metastasized into my liver in multiple places. I now have Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Not good. We caught this liver business fairly early, but this is the first-place to which pancreatic cancer cells migrate from the pancreas tumor, so it was not totally unexpected, though certainly unwanted. Just for clarity, this is not liver cancer, but pancreatic cancer spread to the liver (the cells are different--pancreatic cancer cells are much harder to kill). Genetic tests have been run to see if I have any special mutations of pancreatic cancer cells for which a more specific and targeted cancer treatment exists or has clinical trials. So, now we have another blessing from the Lord in the form of some additional and deeper valleys through which we will again covet your prayers.

My schedule is as follows: April 25 RCM US Board meeting; April 26 Cardiac Stress test; May 2 bladder tumor surgery; May 3 begin my 6 month regimen of chemo for four hours with IV treatment + a few days with a chemo pump at home every two weeks. Lots of bad side effects possible.

The prognosis is that I have another year to live (maybe). Due to this, I am having to reprioritize everything so as to leave as much of time I have for wrapping up my affairs, my obligations and the ministry work for the last nearly 40 years.

Posted on: Feb 25, 2017 at 7:30 AM

I suppose Betty gave you the best year ever, 2-3 years off of your age. I see the bottle is for a 70 year old, but since we were all in the same class together, it is hard for me to believe you are not 73-74. Ah well, I wish you the best. Hope to see you again sometime not too far off.

I missed the 55th reunion since I was in treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Clinic in Houston for 6 weeks of radiation and chemo for my pancreatic cancer. God has blessed me with this disease, though I'd have chosen other ways of blessing instead. But, by His grace and the great help of my wife, doctors and various naturopathic products, I've survived a year now and entered the somewhat more elite group of those that survive so long. Good news is tumor is stable, no more treatment, monitoring regularly by CT scans. Exciting and interesting stuff for sure.

Hope you all are well. We look forward to perhaps getting together for a meal sometime when we come through St. Louis. My mother and sister are both in a nursing home in Osage Beach (Lake O). My mom for Alzheimers (94) and my sister for a massive stroke which has paralyzed some of her body, loss of right hand use, and extreme difficulty trying to speak. So we try to get to see them at least twice a year.

Happy birthday Bob. Hope you have a great day. Also hope to see you at the 55th Reunion. Debbie Coyne will be there this time all the way from Nepal. I keep in touch with her. Hope we see a lot of people there the next time.

Hey there Avery and WGHS fellow student and grad. Happy Birthday. Sorry we missed you at the mini-reunion last September. Was more intimate with those that were there, but sure would like to have seen you. Hope you have a great birthday. Ran into David Richter this summer. You might remember him. Works in Branson, MO. Enjoyed a late breakfast with he and his wife. Tried to see Debbie Coyne Merola, but she was unable to make it to reunion. Going back to Nepal, so may not see her again. Sure trying to catch up with everyone I can from the old Avery crowd.

Posted on: Feb 27, 2015 at 9:54 AM