GoFundMe drive supports treatment for longtime nursery manager Taylor Lewis
Taylor Lewis has been the nursery manager at the UC Davis Arboretum's Teaching Nursery. Courtesy GoFundMe
For almost a decade, Taylor Lewis has been an ever-smiling leader and garden guru at the UC Davis Arboretum’s Teaching Nursery.
As nursery manager, he oversees the production of thousands of plants each spring and fall. He is often their best salesman, too, making recommendations of water-wise wonders that not only look beautiful but can help make our suburban neighborhoods more environmentally friendly.
He’s maintained his sunny can-do attitude through myriad challenges including the 2017 loss of his lower right leg to cancer.
After years of remission, that cancer is back. Lewis is now undergoing treatment for angiosarcoma, an extremely rare form of cancer.
“It’s pretty rare for someone to get it once,” Lewis said. “It’s radically rare to have it twice. … It was a shock.”
Lewis, 47 and the father of three, is preparing to travel to Houston, Texas, for further treatment starting in mid December. He’s already started chemo – and lost his lush strawberry blonde hair. “I hadn’t seen my skull since I was 15,” he said with a characteristic chuckle.
“I was healthy going into (treatment); that helps a lot,” Lewis added. “But it’s going to be a long slog.”
During the early months of 2023, Lewis noticed a rash on the small of his back. In a month, it doubled in size. His doctors at first thought it was dermatitis; the chances of it being angiosarcoma were so slim.
Lewis’s cancer was finally diagnosed in late September and he stepped away from his Arboretum duties to start treatment. “I’m going to give it all I got,” he said.
Lewis consulted with doctors at University of California, San Francisco. In Texas, he’ll consult with Dr. Vinod Ravi, the leading expert in treating angiosarcoma in the U.S., at the University of Texas’ M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
“It’s expensive,” Lewis said. “It costs a lot of money just to have them look at my records.”
Friends and Arboretum patrons are now rallying around their “beloved green warrior,” raising funds to help support his treatment and recovery.
“Taylor's unwavering commitment to friends and family, coupled with his boundless positive energy and dedication to the Arboretum and the environment, has deeply impacted our community,” wrote longtime UC Davis Arboretum volunteer Kili Bong on Lewis’ GoFundMe page. “His ever-present good nature, invaluable guidance to both budding and seasoned gardeners, and his innate ability to help them design and cultivate the gardens of their dreams, have touched countless lives over the years. Today, he needs our support more than ever.”
The grassroots campaign has raised more than $55,000 so far, quickly exceeding its goal of $50,000. Find it here: https://shorturl.at/dP569
“There are a lot of people out there who love me,” Lewis said. “I’m really grateful for this support. I’ve already spent more than $10,000 (out of pocket) on treatment. I feel very fortunate. I’m lucky to have this support and these people in my life. It makes all this easier.”
Lewis continues to be optimistic. He’s focusing on his treatment and being as healthy as he can be.
“Nobody’s beaten this one; there are no good outcomes, at least not yet,” Lewis observed. “But I can always be the first.”
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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