Hello Friends and Family,
Thank you all for your outpouring of love and support as we navigated the swift change of events leading to our father being placed in hospice care. Chris spent his last days surrounded by family and sleeping peacefully through the days and nights under the tender care of hospice workers. Family members shared stories, played music, laughed, and cried together. In addition to family and a couple close friends, Chris had visits from reiki practitioners, therapy dogs, and a massage therapist, and was tended to lovingly.
At this time we are widening the circle to include all of you, and invite you to share this information with anyone you know who may wish to send their love or support.
Liz brought our father to the ER in Damariscotta the evening of October 21st, where a CT scan showed stage IV cancer throughout his body. He was deemed terminal, and advised to be transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland for an MRI. Amidst feisty protests from dad (he did not want to stay at the hospital) she brought him home for the night before making the trip to Portland the next day, where he awaited an MRI. The MRI confirmed and underlined the severity of dad's condition, with sizeable tumors in his brain explaining his erratic behavior of late. He did not wish to undergo treatment, and was given weeks to live. Shortly after the MRI results were in he qualified for hospice at the beautiful Gosnell house. He was transported to hospice on October 27th.
Liz is requesting privacy at this time, and would rather not answer phone calls or messages. Please direct all correspondence to Erica at (575) 779-0268 via text for the fastest response.
Love and support in the form of financial contributions would also be greatly appreciated at this time. Liz is making plans for our father's postmortem care and celebration of life, and we would like this to be as minimally burdensome on her as possible. She plans to honor Chris with a casual and fun hootenanny-style outdoor party up at the house in Wiscasset - just like he would want.
Those of us who know him well know that dad would march to the beat of his own drum amidst any storm or force of nature on the planet, a quality he has taken with him to the very last. His fierce devotion to his musical career has deeply touched many of us, and in recent years dad was able to get back into sailing... always a good time with lots of laughs and shenanigans along the way.
We would love to hear your favorite stories, memories, jokes, or anything about our dad that you feel like sharing here on this page under the "Memories" tab.
We will share more details as celebration of life plans are solidified. Anything you can donate would be much appreciated, though not at all expected. If you would like to contribute, please help us simplify this process by making donations directly to Chris's family. You can send funds via PayPal to mclannon21@gmail.com or Venmo @mike21L (last four of phone # is 4393).
Heartfelt Gratitude,
Erica, Cayce and Mike Lannon