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Todd Walker
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View Todd's Work
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Todd Walker
1965-2004
Todd passed away January 9, 2004. He was a dedicated father, a wonderful friend and my business partner.
Husband and Father of two
Fellow Animator
Memorial services were held at 2:30 pm Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004 at Holy Family Catholic Church in Ashland, KY by Father John Moriarty.
The genesis of this site was to help provide financial support to Todd and his family. Now that Todd has passed on, a portion of the revenue from this site will go into a trust fund for his children and benefit cancer research.
Your prayers and words of encouragement can be emailed here. They will be printed and delivered to the family.
If you would like to donate to the family, you can do it via PayPal here:
100% of your donation will go to Todd's Family
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Todd's Bio:
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Todd had over 10 years experience in 3d animation and visualization. He was a classically trained artist (painting and sculpture) and graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Architecture. He was the senior animator at Filmburn Studios.
Todd always worked nights, so he could watch his children during the day. His daughter just entered the 1st grade and his son was in kindergarten. This was Todd's last year working nights. Next year both children would be in school and allow Todd to work days.
Since diagnosed with cancer, Todd had:
three separate surgeries
lost over 80 pounds in just over 2 months
been so weak that verbal communication was difficult
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Todd's Progress Log:
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Jan 09, 2004
Final Entry
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It was 5:10pm and I had just printed all the email prayers, donations, and website listings that Todd had received today and headed over to the hospital. I remember feeling really good about all the support we had been given. I wondered how he was doing and if he was having a good day. I went inside and up to the second floor, went down the hall and passed his brother Tim. I briefly shook his hand and continued to Todd's room. Just before I opened the door, Tim called me back and asked if I had heard. I hadn't.
Todd passed away around 4:30
Apparently Todd started choking on some mucous buildup in his throat. The nurses came in to clear it and Todd refused the treatment. He then let his wife know that he wanted to stop fighting... and that was it. Todd passed away.
(For friends that need to know more, click here)
I entered Todd's room where his wife, mom, dad, brother and sister sat around his body. There was nothing I could do or say. I quietly placed the emailed prayers in a binder I was keeping in the room. Then I just sat, silently. Looking at Todd almost made me feel good. He put up such a good fight and now, was no longer suffering. After a few minutes I started thinking about all the people that have been praying for him and had to leave to start making phone calls. I came back here because I wanted to update the site as soon as possible. My friends talked me out of it and now, the next morning, here I am doing what I think is right.
Thank you to everyone who sent their email of support and donations. I'll be emailing you directly with the news.
When I find out when the services will be held, I will post them here.
-Dave
ps. As I was posting this page, my MSN messenger popped up and showed Todd as online. :) It felt good.
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Jan 07, 2004
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I just saw Todd and had to post this! Todd's looking MUCH better than yesterday. He was awake and actually interacting a bit. Not a lot, but some... Of course, He still can't speak, but he was trying to tell me something. I'm not sure what he was trying to say, but it made me so happy to see him actually fighting back. I told him that he looked so good and he was getting better. I hope the doctors take this as a good sign and start the radiation again.
I received about fifteen emails for Todd today... A heartfelt "thank you" for everyone who sent their encouragement.
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Jan 06, 2004
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I just got back from the hospital. I went over to bring Todd a movie and tell him what we are doing with got3d. I did tell him, but I’m not sure if he understood or not. Todd got an infection on Saturday that he’s been fighting. He can’t focus, speak or move. The most we got out of him today was he tracked his father walking across the room and then he fell back asleep. The doctors have stopped the chemotherapy and are stopping radiation in the morning. They said the cancer is growing too fast and they are not sure if the radiation is killing enough of it. It’s going to be up to Todd to pull out of this. If he shows signs of getting better, they will start the radiation again, so please pray for him. I will be delivering any message from all of you daily.
Pray4Todd@got3d.com
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Jan 03, 2004
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Todd
is still in the same condition. He has his ups and downs. You never now what
you're going to get when you visit. He looks completely different than he did
only 2 months ago. When this all started he weighed around 230, now 147.
We'll see what happens. He does not know that I'm doing this site for him; I
will show him in the next few days.
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Dec 26, 2003
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Some
time last night, Todd's white blood cells went through the roof! I'm not sure
what this means, but it's good. The Doctors said that his count went from .05
to over 5000! They whisked him away to dialysis.
His fever has broke and he has stopped shaking.
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Dec 25, 2003
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Christmas
Day, Todd's still in the same condition. Angie recorded the children opening
their presents and brought it to the hospital. Todd sat alert while the tape
played. He reached out for the screen as the kids opened their gifts. Todd
had not seen his children for 2 weeks. He didn't want them to see him in his
current condition. The videotape changed that, he asked for the kids to be
brought by.
When they showed, Todd was extremely focused and tried very hard to talk to
them and pay attention to every word they said. The children were there for
about 20 minutes and then were taken home. Todd fell right to sleep afterwards.
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Dec 24, 2003
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Christmas
Eve, Got a call from Angie and she told me that the doctors didn't think Todd
would make it through the night. He had some sort of infection. He was
running a fever and his white blood cell count was way down. I drove back
that night to see him.
Todd is sleeping most the time, but continually shaking and moaning. Every
once in a while he wakes up and looks around, then falls back asleep. It
seems that he knows if you are in the room, but I can't be for sure.
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Dec 19, 2003
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Doctors
start chemotherapy and radiation. Chemo will be every couple to few weeks and
Radiation a few times per week.
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Dec 18, 2003
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Doctors
change their minds. Turns out they are doing the Dialysis today! So we can
only hope.
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Dec 16, 2003
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Todd
is still at the hospital. His kidneys have completely shut down. The doctors
are talking about dialysis, but are thinking they might not do it. He's had
one radiation therapy and no chemo. They won't attempt the chemo without the
dialysis, but are still thinking they may not do it. They said that with the
dialysis, he might make it a couple more months, without it, a couple weeks.
Right now we're not sure what they are going to do. I asked Angie (Todd's
wife) how he was taking all this and she told me that they have him on some
drugs that have put him out of his mind. He's not processing reality right
now. She said he keeps trying to get up, get dressed and "go to
work", he says he has to talk to one of his clients and talk to me about
some project.
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Dec 5, 2003
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Surgery
day. This time they put a stint in his left kidney to get it working again.
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Dec 2, 2003
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Not
a good day. Todd was rushed to the emergency room because of chest pains.
When he was there they found that his right lung was full of fluid and had
almost collapsed. They drained off 3 liters of fluid. I spoke to Todd about
this, he said, it the worst pain you could ever imagine. Apparently they
"stab" you just under the armpit to drain the fluid.
When they were doing the x-ray for the chest, they also noticed that his
right kidney was inflamed. That meant that his left kidney wasn't doing it's
job (they told me it was failing) and the right wasn't picking up the
slack... So, surgery is set again.
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Nov 30, 2003
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To
get Todd ready for radiation therapy, doctors had to start a feeding tube to
build his strength. He is still not eating.
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Nov 25, 2003
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Met
with doctor to schedule radiation and chemotherapy. Todd is not able to eat.
He is getting nauseous often.
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Nov 14, 2003
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Todd
goes home. He is walking around a bit and actually watched a couple movies on
the couch yesterday. His wife told me that he started to hookup the
playstation, but his son took it away from him. :)
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Nov 6, 2003
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They
just told me that he sat in a chair for about an hour and he said that he couldn’t
remember the last time he felt so good. I'm taking that as super good news!
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Nov 4, 2003
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Surgery
went ok. The tumor was the size of a soccer ball. The surgeon's were able to
remove 80% of it. The rest is going to be treated with chemotherapy and
radiation.
They had to remove his entire stomach and spleen. They took some of his
esophagus, some of his pancreas, some of his large intestine.
They are going to start a feeding tube to build up his strength… they think
it will take about a week… and then they’ll start the chemo and radiation.
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Oct 30, 2003
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Found
a new surgeon that is willing to operate. Surgery set for November 4th.
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Oct 24, 2003
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Met
with Surgeon. Not a good start for the weekend, Surgeon suggested that Todd
was too far gone to consider surgery.
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Oct 23, 2003
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Doctors
confirm that the tumor is cancerous.
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Oct 22, 2003
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New
test. Doctors put a camera down Todd's throat. They find the tumor. A small
portion was cut away for further testing.
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Prior to
Oct 22, 2003
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Todd
had been complaining all year that his stomach had been bothering him. He
said it was difficult to eat because the food would get caught at the base of
his esophagus and stomach. Then pressure would build and he would feel
horrible. Then he wouldn't feel like eating anything. He had been going to
the doctor and they were treating him for acid reflux disease. A myriad of
test were done and nothing seemed to work.
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Todd's Obituary
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Todd Andrew Walker
WALKER - Todd Andrew, 40, of Lexington, husband of Angie Arthur Walker, died Fri., Jan. 9, 2004 at the Markey Cancer Center. Born in Winfield WV, he was a son of Gary and Mona Walker of Ashland, KY. He was a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Architecture. He was owner of Filmburn Studios in Lexington. He was a member of Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary. Besides his wife he is survived by two children, Michael and Laura; four brothers, Tim (Dale) Walker, Richmond, Greg (Joey) Walker, Ashland, Patrick (Kathy) Walker, Abbeville, SC, and Nathan Walker, Ashland; three sisters, Carrie Ruff, Ashland, Heather (Gary) Estep, Ashland, Megan (Gary) McGuire, Hanging Rock, OH. A memorial service will be held at 2:30 pm Tues., Jan. 13, 2004 at Holy Family Catholic Church in Ashland, KY by Father John Moriarty. Todd will be greatly missed by his friends and family.
Published in the Lexington Herald-Leader on 1/11/2004.
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