I grew up in the small farm town of Menan, Idaho. As a kid, I worked on farms, milked cows, irrigated fields, and harvested potatoes. I developed a strong interest in “computers” after my dad bought the family a TI 99/4A computer for Christmas one year. I was introduced to programming on this device, which later led to the development of some small games. I graduated from Rigby High School in 1989.

Amy (Izatt) grew up in Ririe, Idaho, also a small farm town not too far from Rigby. Her graduating class was 26 people. She lived the typical life of a teenage girl. She had some close girlfriends, was on the cheerleader squad, was a huge fan of New Kids on the Block. She was really close with her Grandma (Whom died of Breast Cancer shortly before we met) and her Aunt Nona Dutson, that lived with her Grandma in a small house in Ririe. She always told me that it was her Grandma and Nona that raised her, and she spent a lot of time at their house after school. Amy graduated high school in 1992 and went on to attend Idaho State University.

Despite the close proximity between Rigby and Ririe (About 7 miles), we never met during our entire youth. We had a few close calls that are pretty crazy. For example, one of her cousins (Denise Yates) married one of my cousins (Carl Huffaker) while we were teenagers. I went to the wedding reception in Rigby with my family, but at the last minute, she got stuck at home babysitting all the kids. Despite the fact that our families were connected by this marriage, we never ended up at any common family functions.

A couple years after graduating high school and flunking college, I didn’t really know what I was doing with my life, nor did I have any direction. So I moved back to Idaho and started a job at Albertsons where I worked in the Produce department. I was still very interested in computers and dabbled in programming on the side. I partnered with a good friend Eric Beck (who also passed away in 2017 from Cancer), formed a corporation, and developed an application to track chemical application on farms.  The business never made any money, but it was a great learning experience.

Amy and I “officially” met while I was working on the Night Crew at Albertsons. I was living in Idaho Falls with a roommate at the time, and she was home from her first year of college. Amy came over to my apartment to see my roommate Steve, who was a waiter at Perkins at the time. Her friend had left Amy’s number on the napkin for him as a joke. I was off that night, and was walking up the stairs with a laundry basket full of clothes when I saw Amy sitting on the couch with Steve. It was love at first sight. I kept finding excuses to pass through the living room where they were sitting so I could check her out. Every time I did, Amy would stop mid-sentence with what she was saying to Steve and would look up and say something to me.

Over the next week I couldn’t get Amy off my mind, and was plotting a way to steal her away from Steve. He didn’t seem like her type anyway, so I didn’t feel that bad about it. As it turned out, she called one day when Steve was gone to work, hoping that I would answer instead. It worked in our favor and I asked her out. We had a whirlwind romance and got married in March 1994. We were two young kids in love with absolutely no idea what to do with our lives.

Despite being broke and struggling financially from the start, Amy was the most supportive person I had ever met. She always believed in me. She pushed me to be a better person and to pursue my goals and dreams even though I didn’t believe in myself. This is the part of the story where Amy really influenced my career and had a profound impact on my life. In fact, it was probably the single most important thing that she did to help turn our lives around and get us headed in the right direction.

We were living in Boise, she was pregnant with Austin (our first), and I had started working at a small computer store in Nampa after getting fired from Albertsons. I hoped this would help launch my computer career. It was great experience but I knew I wanted something much bigger than that. I felt stuck and didn’t know what to do.

This was all before the Internet became mainstream, so finding information was extremely difficult. While I was working, Amy did a lot of research and found out about a new Computer Networking program at a technical college in Idaho Falls. She got me interested in it and persuaded me to enroll. We moved back to Idaho Falls and I started school.

Amy was the most supportive person I had ever met. She always believed in me. She pushed me to be a better person and to pursue my goals and dreams even though I didn’t believe in myself.

Foreclosure / Business Finances
Around this time were dealing with a huge downturn in business and our financial situation was pretty dire. In fact, I had to make radical changes to my business and let several people go that were bleeding my company dry. It was so bad, we refinanced our house right as the market was peaking, and dumped that money into the business to try to save it. Then we got behind on our mortgage and ended up losing the house to foreclosure after the market collapsed at the end of 2008.

Relationship Challenges
Jana’s death, financial challenges, losing the house, failing business, laying off employees, moving into a small apartment; Everything seemed like it was falling apart, our stress levels were off the charts, and nobody was happy with any of it. The strain on our marriage nearly broke us, and we separated for about a year while we tried to figure things out. I feel like I had hit rock bottom, and that due to my failures I had let everybody down that relied on me.

Ovarian Cancer

At the end of 2011, just when everything seemed amazing and we were on top of the world, tragedy struck. Amy had been having strange abdominal issues and we received the worst news possible just after Christmas. She was diagnosed with Stage 3C Ovarian Cancer at the age of 37. She immediately underwent a radical hysterectomy, and then endured a rigorous chemotherapy for over three years. The cancer proved to be so aggressive, and the chemotherapy had worn her down so badly that her body could no longer fight. She passed away in March of 2015 at the age of 41.

Prior to her diagnosis, she had started having various symptoms such as bloating, abdominal pain, she would feel full very quickly and when she did eat, she would say that it felt like there was a brick in her stomach. She also experienced strange hormonal issues, her weight fluctuated, and dark hairs started growing on her chin and neck.

She saw several doctors and they generally dismissed the possibility of “Cancer” because they thought she was “too young”.  They chased other solutions such as “Food Allergies/Intolerance”, “Irritable Bowel”, “Hormonal Imbalance”, and more.  Nobody made the connection between her symptoms and her family history, and we were not even educated enough to know this was something to worry about.

I feel like if we had been more aware of her family history, more aware of the risks and the symptoms, and hadn’t ignored and dismissed the symptoms, we could have caught the disease sooner. One of the biggest challenges with Ovarian Cancer is that it’s difficult to detect, and is usually not discovered until stage 3C or stage 4. These stages result in the absolute worst prognosis. In Amy’s case, even with scans and other tests, it was unclear if she actually had cancer. It wasn’t until her radical hysterectomy that they were actually able to see Cancer and that it had spread throughout her abdomen. And according to the OB/GYN Oncologist that performed her surgery, the cancer was “Much worse than he ever anticipated.”

As a side note, I should point out that after Amy’s diagnosis, she was tested for the BRCA Genetic Mutation. In theory, this would help doctors know which treatments would be the most effective.  It was confirmed that Amy was, in fact, positive for the BRCA1 mutation. It is believed that her sister likely had this as well, but it had never been tested.

During this time, my company collapsed financially as I had shifted my focus from the business to care for Amy. I was forced to shut down my office, let all of my employees go, and move my operation into my home office. I operated in survival mode with my business scaled back to the absolute bare minimum. I was fortunate to have a core set of loyal customers, and I was somehow able to keep everything afloat while getting Amy the best care and treatment available to us. Shutting down my office and letting my employees go was extremely painful. I carry a lot of guilt and sometimes hate myself for having to make that decision. I know I let a lot of people down, but I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t prepared for any of what Amy and I were going through.

Since the passing of Amy, I have downsized quite a bit, my kids have moved out and started their own lives, and I have refocused my business efforts on what I do best. I continue to operate independently out of Phoenix, Arizona, and now have the flexibility to take on projects that I choose, and I can travel anywhere in the world that my expertise and on-site presence is required. My son Austin works in Real Estate, and my daughter Jasmine is attending college on a full-tuition scholarship. I have a close relationship with my two kids and we find ourselves on lots of adventures together.