There are a number of both friends and colleagues in the East Coast wine community following the medical progress and praying for the restored health of Cain Hickey, Penn State Extension’s Assistant Teaching Professor of Viticulture.
He took ill in late June during a work trip to Erie, and the diagnosis determined his symptoms were related to cancer that spread to other parts of his body.
You can read the original story at this link.
Hickey is a husband and father of three elementary-school children. He was first employed in viticulture research and extension at the Penn State Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center in 2007.
A GoFundMe was set up in early July to help defray the overwhelming costs of medical expenses, travel to specialists, medications, lost income, and countless unexpected costs that come with the diagnosis.
You can find that page, which has drawn more than $136,000 in contributions, at this link.
He has been posting any updates there.
His last post, on Aug. 11, said that he had started a second round of chemo and that they were taking place at Mt. Nittany hospital in State College, Pennsylvania, a short drive from his home. “It is so nice to be home and a close drive to the hospital. There is no better place to sleep than my own bed,” he wrote.
Contacted late last week by The Wine Classroom, he said that while he nothing further to add to what’s been posted online, he acknowledged that he has been doing “much better lately in these later rounds of chemo” after a first round that left him very tired and uncomfortable.