Washington Cancer Patient Has Car Stolen On First Day Of Treatment

On what should have been a day focused solely on fighting prostate cancer, Washington state resident Val Mohney got blindsided by a different kind of battle — car theft.

Mohney, who lives in Davenport, had traveled to Columbia City to stay with his friend Kristen Dean while starting treatment, according to Yahoo. But at around 6 a.m. Tuesday, the police called with news guaranteed to ruin anyone’s morning: his car had been stolen, joyridden, and crashed into a fence at a nearby middle school.

“Unfortunately, I started my day off with having my car ripped off and driven through a fence,” he told KING5. “I’m just trying to deal with cancer, and now I have to deal with that.”

Yahoo writes that the car was in bad shape — the ignition looked like someone had “taken a grenade” to it — and it was left abandoned in the school parking lot. For Mohney, a real estate agent, the loss isn’t just inconvenient; it’s income-threatening. “I’m the sole bread winner so if I’m not making money there’s no money coming in,” he said.

On top of everything, Mohney is caring for his mother, who has dementia, and his partner, whose disability limits how much they can work. Life has been throwing him lemons, bricks, and the occasional flaming bowling ball, but he’s focusing on his supporters.

“Really, I’m very fortunate because I have a big community of people that love me and I don’t know how people that don’t do it when stuff like that comes up,” he said.

Dean is now shuttling him to work between treatments — a job that apparently now comes with “personal chauffeur” in the description. Seattle police are combing through surveillance footage to find the joyrider, who remains at large. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe is helping Mohney keep going while he battles cancer and, apparently, other people’s bad life choices.