Friends raising funds for Monroe resident, Monitor photographer

Dan Armstrong is a true Monroevian. He went to school and has always lived here all of his 60 years.

He started working at the Monroe Monitor at 33. He had pictures of an accident. He was paid $10.

His then-wife was going to nursing school. He was working in the shipyards and got laid off, but could not get back in because he was so far down the list. He was taking care of his kids. He was doing fire extinguishers. He was doing anything he could.

When his wife finished, he used the GI bill to go to X-ray school. He also was studying photography at Everett Community College. He heard they had a photojournalism class. The instructor said: "Anybody who gets a photo published in a newspaper before the end of the class would get an automatic "A'.GÇ¥

He asked The Monitor to sponsor him. He was the only one to get published before the end of the quarter. The instructor denied his previous statement, so Armstrong got an A-minus.

"Then I was shooting everything and anything I could get,GÇ¥ Armstrong said. "All accidents made the paper. There were so many. The publisher at the time, Howard Voland, said only those which impact very local people would be printed.GÇ¥

Then he was helping the fire department out. They asked why he did not volunteer. They didn't want him to go wandering out in the wrong place and wrong time.

"If I wanted to get a picture, I had to report to the battalion chief. I would put on my gear. Sometimes I didn't get to take pictures,GÇ¥ he said.

A firefighter for 12 years

When he got remarried, it was new wife and a new life, and Armstrong wasn't getting the callbacks, so they let him go as a volunteer.

"I wasn't responding enough,GÇ¥ he said.

He had been taking pictures for the fire department and would give them the pictures. "My thing was trying to promote and keep the fire department in the public eye as much as I could, showing what they do,GÇ¥ he said.

Then he shifted his allegiance to the paper.

He started working at the VA in November 1989, while still shooting for the paper. He worked weekends ' two 16-hour shifts.

Sometimes he would get photos on the weekend.-á For example, an accident on 522 with a tanker that was tipped he saw on the way home.

"First person I had to cut out of a dead body was on the way home. It was on 203. I think there was two fatalities and many critical injuries ' head-on truck and head-on with camper. It was raining. Everybody was out. Helicopters were landing,GÇ¥ he recalled.

He took pictures of floods, accidents, storm drains, railroad tracks and other oddities.

Then he got sick

At the end of January 2014, Armstrong thought he had a bad cold. It got worse. He went to the emergency room at Valley General around 10:30 p.m. one night when it was difficult to breathe. A doctor told him it looked like the flu. They let him go at 4 a.m.

When Armstrong had to crawl to get upstairs, his wife, Michelle, took him back down to the hospital. An X-ray was taken. The radiologist saw a little shadow.

"You need a CAT scan. Doesn't look good. You have a large mass in your chest about the size of a small orange right next to your heart. It looks like cancer,GÇ¥ he was told.

At Providence, they did a biopsy with a needle.

"The needle guy said it was cancerous and it needed to come out,GÇ¥ Armstrong said.

He went home. "Three weeks later, on the third of March, I had the tumor taken out,GÇ¥ Armstrong said. "They had to split my chest. The do it like open heart surgery. The thymus is right underneath the sternum. Most people think of it as being wired back up. Providence used zip ties. These failed. My sternum never grew back together. I spent almost a year with a separated sternum. I even went back to work for seven months in the clinic at Mt. Vernon.

"After a while I was having bad days. Then every day became a bad day. I could not carry things in my left hand. It was hard to carry anything. I had to use my right hand only.GÇ¥

Armstrong had more 1,400 hours sick leave. Now he has about 400.

His pay dropped $1,000 a month for at least 6 months. He was paid-á $300 less than what his mortgage was. Michelle had to get a third job.

"Now I can't do anything. Get up, go to the bathroom and sit back down.GÇ¥

Now they are inundated with other surgery bills. They applied to Providence for assistance and were told they made too much money.

Their bills now amount to just shy of $8,000.

"The bills for living expenses we could handle, if we did not have this burden.

Michelle has been a trouper. She went from being a working partner to being the bread winner. She has worked awfully hard.GÇ¥

A benefit to help pay off the balance of Armstrong's medical bills is set for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at Adam's Northwest Bistro and Brewery in Monroe, at $25 per person. A buffet dinner will be served.

Those who won't be able to attend can also send contributions to the Dan Armstrong Fund at Coastal Community Bank in Monroe, 19351 State Route 2, Monroe, WA 98272.

Call Adam's Bistro at 360-794-4056 to RSVP.

Ken Robinson wrote this story to support his friends, the Armstrongs.