Tim had a small army of doctors caring for him within the UCLA system. All of which were attentive, kind, and thorough.

Our family would like to focus our donation efforts to a subset of his care team - which he acquired free of cost from the Simms Mann Center for Integrative Oncology.

The Simms Mann Center focuses on the areas of care outside of treatment by offering psychiatric, nutritional, and spiritual care.

Through this center Tim met a counselor, Michael Eselun, Michael met regularly with Tim over zoom.

Michael helped my Dad navigate difficult conversations with us when his cancer took a turn for the worse. He also helped my Dad with more pragmatic tasks: like how to best capture his mother's life story through thoughtful interviews, or how to persuade my mom to let him finally buy that motorcycle he’s always wanted.

The mental side of cancer care is often overlooked in a scramble to find the cure. Tim found it invaluable that he had someone to speak to and receive guidance on tough life decisions throughout his cancer journey.

This may sound like a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to cancer care. However, it had immeasurable results on my Dad’s mental health and fortitude. The calm “we can do this” demeanor was passed from his care team at UCLA & Simms Mann, to him, and in turn to the rest of his family.

In short, If they could convince my Dad of all people to go to therapy, it’s well worth your donation.