Man (55) is terminally ill: after a bitter diagnosis, he makes a decision
Texas (USA) - Doug Ruch is terminally ill with terminal prostate cancer. He has been fighting death since 2021 and doctors have given him a maximum of 18 months to live.All his savings have now been spent on (super)vital treatments. But the 55-year-old is not letting it get him down, quite the opposite.
"I thought to myself: I have two options. I can sit at home and wait to die or I can go out and live," he told the KGO radio station.
Ruch opted for option two, is now on a special mission and wants to do something good in his final days. His goal: to volunteer in each of the 50 US states and help other people.
During his "Dying to Serve" tour, the man from San Antonio (Texas) was able to experience many wonderful things. This has been beneficial to his health, as he told People in an interview. "Tomorrow is never guaranteed for any of us and now I can live like there's no tomorrow," said the 55-year-old.
Ruch has been traveling across the country since the beginning of the year, packing potato sacks at a food bank in Idaho and handing out food to senior citizens in Oregon. According to NBC News , cooking meals in Montana and helping out in a café in South Dakota are on the programsoon.
Cancer patient Doug Ruch needs donations for his project
To enable the 55-year-old to travel from A to B, he is asking for donations on the GoFundMe platform. So far, around 68,000 US dollars (60,000 euros) have been raised in this way.
Ruch was able to use the money to buy a car, for example. He has already driven more than 6500 kilometers on US highways in the wine-red Chevrolet.
Without donations, his passion project would not be possible. The Texan told the Washington Post that he had had to pay around 80,000 US dollars out of his own pocket for cancer treatment in recent years and was virtually broke afterwards. He blames the "broken healthcare system in the United States" for this.
However, the days of Ruch harboring resentment towards third parties are long gone. The Texan is living in the moment. "I can feel the happiness hormones and the extra energy," he said when asked about his voluntary work.