(Left to right) Stephen, Ann and Jacob Hilgendorf with Hospice nurse Cassie Burnett, RN.
Touching Lives with Joy and Tears
Tuscola family grateful for support from Lincolnland Hospice in
easing son’s final journey
Joel Hilgendorf wanted to live more than anything, but as the
end of his life neared, he focused his energy on bringing joy to
others.
“He wanted more time, but, at the end, he was really more
concerned about everyone else,” his mother, Ann Hilgendorf,
said. “He wanted to do things for people and tell them what
they meant to him.”
After a valiant cancer battle, the 28-year-old Tuscola man
passed away peacefully on July 9, surrounded by family and
friends. His family credits Lincolnland Hospice of Sarah Bush
Lincoln for helping him live life to the fullest, even though he
wasn’t ready to give up.
6 healthstyles
november 2017
“Joel was a strong-willed person and he was tough,” Ann said.
He had conquered a major battle with acute myeloid leukemia
when he was a student at Eastern Illinois University, and he
was just six months shy of celebrating his five-year cancer-free
anniversary when doctors discovered cancer in his lungs in April
2015.
Joel and his family were blindsided by the diagnosis. “Lung
cancer is the last thing you expect in someone that’s 25 years
old and who’s never smoked or been around someone that has
smoked,” his father, Stephen Hilgendorf, said. Unfortunately,
Joel’s cancer was already stage 4 and had spread to his bones
when it was discovered.