Then, in early 2020, a visit to my doctor for an “early satiety” complaint turned into a Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer diagnosis caused by the CDH1 gene mutation. Although she wasn’t ever tested, my sister obviously carried the gene mutation. My Mom had the gene mutation and never developed cancer that we know about. She likely received the gene mutation from her father, who had a partial gastrectomy at the Mayo Clinic, and died a few years later of stomach cancer. My cousin Ryan and his Mom (my Aunt) Kathy are the only others in the family that we know carry the CDH1 gene mutation. Ryan has two sons that are too young to be tested. Finally, Kristen and I have one son, Wyatt. Sadly, I passed the CDH1 gene mutation on to him.

THAD’S PERSONAL LIFE MISSION

My personal life mission is to love everything life delivers to me (Amor Fati) and do my best to help people I love fulfill and enjoy their own life mission.

THAD’S CAUSE

As you might imagine, passing the gene mutation on to Wyatt was devastating to me and my family. With that in mind, I fully commit to a new personal life mission to “Save Our Stomachs”. I have other good friends (that I consider family) in our CDH1 community that share our scenario of having passed the gene mutation on to their kids.

I believe our cause may encourage you to think a bit more seriously about supporting our Foundation fund raising targets more than other causes the next year or two to help me achieve a specific goal I have set for myself.

THAD’S GOAL

My goal is to raise $1,000,000 dollars. $250,000 by the end of 2022, and $750,000 by the end of 2023. Here is my “Why” Statement to convince you to help me:

THAD’S CAUSE AND GOAL “WHY” STATEMENT

The cause of HDGC is my CDH1 Gene Mutation. I passed this CDH1 Gene Mutation onto my son, Wyatt Hamilton. The current protocol for Wyatt, and other patients with the CDH1 Gene Mutation, is to have a prophylactic gastrectomy between the ages of 20 and 30 years old to “most successfully prevent” getting stomach cancer. Wyatt is currently 20 years old. The urgency of my goal is immediate.

My effort right now, and for the rest of my life, is to spend my healthy days doing everything I can to save Wyatt’s stomach. I can specifically do that in two ways: (1) Fund Parry Guilford’s Otago University Research Lab with an Endowment Fund to help him continue his work, and (2) Fund Dr. Jeremy Davis at the NIH to run a new Human Clinical Trial. The Human Clinical trial is almost ready to implement, and it’s a chemo prevention drug that Parry Guilford’s Lab is working on so Dr. Jeremy Davis can “put it into production”, so to speak. This Human Clinical Trial, should Wyatt and other patients decide to enter it, could allow them to delay Total Gastrectomy for a longer period of time with more assurance cancer won’t develop while they wait.

I’m asking my friends and family to make their donations to the DLH Foundation as often as possible, and we will pass those donations through to Otago and NIH. My goal is to raise and then donate the $1,000,000 to the two recipients. I will publish the financial results as frequently as necessary.

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Navigating this diagnosis at a young age can be overwhelming, and I understand the uncertainties that come with it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, considering preventative surgery, or simply looking for support, I want to be a resource for you. No one should have to go through this alone.

My father dedicated years to fulfilling the Parry Guilford Endowment Fund, a mission I am committed to carrying forward. As the successor to Karen Chelcun, he worked tirelessly toward this cause, helping raise $600,000 of the $1.5 million goal alongside Parry’s Angels and the incredible CDH1 community.

His greatest hope was to save my stomach, and I share that same vision—not just for myself, but for everyone affected by CDH1 and CTNNA1 mutations. I firmly believe that together, we can secure the necessary funding to support groundbreaking research at the Center for Translational Research at the University of Otago. Once the endowment is fully funded, the lab will have the resources to continue this vital work indefinitely, bringing us closer to a future where stomach removal is no longer the only option.

Let’s make that future a reality—together.

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