Obituary for Max H Baker

After a two-year battle with cancer, Max H Baker passed from this mortal sphere on October 19, 2016 at his home in Farmington, Utah.  He was 65 years old.

Born January 9, 1951, Max was welcomed to this earth by parents Ray S. and Nelda Baker of Teton, Idaho.  He learned much about hard work and integrity from his parents as he helped to work the family farm.  His perseverance and tenacity carried over to his education, and after graduating from South Fremont High School in 1969, he attended Brigham Young University, graduating with a BA in History and going on to earn his Masters of Public Administration from BYU.  He went on to have a successful career in city and county governments in Aztec, New Mexico; Daly City, California; Farmington, New Mexico; Joplin, Missouri; and ultimately Los Alamos, New Mexico, where he served as finance director, deputy county administrator, and then county administrator.  He retired in October 2009, having earned the respect and admiration of many coworkers and citizens along the way.

At BYU, Max met his sweetheart, Kathryn Diane Sperry, of Joplin, Missouri.  They married on May 26, 1978 in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.  They are the parents of three children: Elizabeth Ann, Martin Alexander, and Ray Galen.  They made their homes in the many towns that Max served in, and following his retirement, he and Kath relocated to Utah to be nearer to family.

Max was a beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather, uncle, and cousin.  He is survived by his wife, Kath (Farmington, UT); his children Beth (Nathan Given; Lehi, UT), Alex (Julia; Los Alamos, NM), and Ray (Farmington, UT); sisters Marsha (Dennis Phillips; St. Anthony, ID) and Julie (Dee Mackliet; Farmington, UT); brothers Wayne (Kay; Teton, ID), Phil (Valerie; Teton, ID), and Marc (Ruth, American Fork, UT); and nine grandchildren: Logan Max, Emeline, Joshua, Kaylee, Abigail, Leah, Mayzie, Andrew, and Brett.  Max was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Cheryl.

Max was devoted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He served in many capacities in the Church, including elders quorum president, clerk, bishopric, high council, Gospel Doctrine and Primary teacher, ward mission leader, and temple cafeteria volunteer.  His unwavering loyalty and integrity throughout his life is exemplary of a true follower of Jesus Christ.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, October 21 at 11am at the LDS chapel on 1395 S 200 E in Farmington, UT.  A viewing will be held before the service from 9:30-10:30.  Interment will be at the Farmington cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, please donate to Primary Children's Hospital.

With Heavy Heart

After two years of writing his own blog posts, Dad asked last Friday night if I (his daughter, Beth) would take over.

On Wednesday, October 12, he had gotten his latest results of the scan -- and they weren't good.  His lower abdomen was looking fine, but his lungs had gotten significantly worse.  There were hundreds of tumors, some as large as 2cm, all throughout his lungs.  All the different chemo drugs, with all their horrific side effects, hadn't been slowing the cancer at all.

His doctor said that every patient is different, but he likely had between only 2 weeks and 4 months to live.

Dad didn't want the news to be all over the Internet right away.  He told his children, and he asked his sister Julie to tell his siblings and their children.

I was optimistic that there would be time to share this latest update slowly and carefully, as he always was prone to do with his health matters.

But it turned out that he only had days to live.  He passed away around midnight last night, less than a week after getting those scan results.

He had beaten the odds for a long time, so it shows just how sick he truly was that, when given these odds, he was gone so quickly.  Dad was always one to downplay his own struggles and discomfort.

We are so glad we could all be together just a few weeks ago.  I have moved here to Utah just two months ago, about an hour south, and my brother Alex came to visit with his family during his daughters' school break from October 6-10.  We were able to take some pictures all together, and now these pictures will forever be priceless treasures.  We're especially glad that Brett, Alex's infant son, got to meet his grandpa.









Family is forever.  Dad knew that.  One of his last pieces of business on this earth was to renew his temple recommend, which just happened on Sunday.  We are grateful for this knowledge, that we will be together again.

But in the meantime, Dad, we will miss you so, so much!

Two new chemo drugs, many new side effects

It's been about a month since the last post, so it's time for another update.

They did a nerve block on August 29 to kill nerves around my upper abdomen.  This was to deal with the pain I've been having since last December. The dull ache in my side is likely due to the cancer having spread to my lungs; it's gotten progressively worse these past nine months.  Previously, I could feel it with every breath, so I was glad this procedure would offer some relief.  

Immediately afterward, my blood pressure took awhile to come back up, so they gave me two extra liters of fluid. 

I went home but still felt pretty light-headed when standing. After a few days of this, I finally went back and they gave me two more liters of fluid. They took some blood at the end and found I was really anemic, so they gave me three units of blood. They also drained a liter and a half of fluid from the lining of my lung which helped with shortness of breath. After all of that, I finally felt pretty decent.  The nerve block has dulled the pain some, which is a relief.

Tarceva, the new chemotherapy drug that I started in mid-August, was giving me so many side effects (heartburn, rash/acne) that the oncologist reduced the dosage and now those side effects are much more manageable.  One side effect that has not gone away, unfortunately, is extreme fatigue.  I thought I was pretty tired before from regular chemo, but this is even worse.

When I saw the doctor again in mid-September, he said that the chemo infusion drug that had worked for so long and got me the ten months of remission was now wreaking havoc on my bone marrow. I have basically stopped producing red blood cells. They gave me another unit of blood that day, so in between that transfusion and the three units I received earlier in September, that's four units total -- about half of the total blood volume. Because of this, Dr. Gilcrease took me off the chemo infusion drug and put me on one that is the second in the arsenal against gallbladder cancer.  The name of the drug is 5FU and it has some pretty hefty side effects: mouth sores (I haven't had too much of that yet) and some chest pain (nothing too debilitating so far; it feels like pressure around my chest).  It's delivered over a 48-hour period via a small ball that hangs around my neck.  I don't need to go to Huntsman for infusion now, though I still go every other Friday to receive the "chemo ball" and to meet with the doctor.

Overall, this past month has been particularly challenging.  I've lost weight and I've lost a lot of strength.  The fatigue is relentless.  It's hard to remain positive but I'm doing my best.  We will do scans in the next week or two, and then we'll be able to see whether these new drugs have been doing what they're intended to do.

Thanks as always for your continued words of encouragement, concern, and prayers.  They mean so much to me and my family.