What happened, in summary

Ernie Pierce was 62 when an operation expected to remove his gallbladder instead revealed Stage IV gastric cancer on March 31, 2008. He had spent almost a year seeking answers for early fullness, worsening discomfort, pain, and significant weight loss, but repeated tests and biopsies had not found the cancer.

The disease was too advanced for cancer surgery, and his family was told that treatment was unlikely to change the outcome. Ernie nevertheless received chemotherapy. For the next 15 months, he depended on a feeding tube that delivered nutrition directly to his intestines and faced repeated obstacles and setbacks.

Ernie died on July 8, 2009. His family later organized a memorial golf tournament that raised more than $50,000 over 3 years for gastric-cancer research. His 65th birthday, June 21, 2010, was proclaimed Gastric Cancer Awareness Day in Oklahoma.