Local father of 3 has fourth emergency brain surgery day after birthday; friends raising funds for his recovery

RIGBY — A local father, husband and carpenter was rushed into brain surgery on Wednesday afternoon, hours after celebrating his 34th birthday with friends and family.

Dan Richins has had a long history of illness, ever since he went in for a checkup before his plan to serve a church mission when he turned 18.

“He was filling out his mission paperwork, and you have to go get a doctor’s note or get checked out by a doctor,” says Richins’ friend, Ryan Pinnock. “When they did that, they saw he had a massive brain tumor on the back of his brain, so he was ineligible to go on his mission.”

With his first brain tumor, Pinnock says Richins endured an 18-hour surgery to remove it.

Pinnock said Richins had yearly MRIs to make sure that the brain tumor hadn’t grown back, and everything was looking healthy. A couple of times, doctors found something that needed to be taken out, putting Richins through multiple more brain surgeries.

After those, and multiple years of good results, life got in the way, and Richins hadn’t had an MRI for a few years.

“The last couple of months, he’s been struggling to walk and to talk,” says Pinnock. “He reached out about a month ago, asking for pointers, and I was like ‘Dude, get an MRI.’”

Richins went and got an MRI done on Friday, and received the results on Monday while at work in Jackson, Wyoming. Doctors asked him to meet them immediately, but Richins was at work, 90 miles away.

“So (doctors) were like, ‘You have a cyst on your brain,’” Pinnock says. “He went to the doctor yesterday, which was his birthday, and he told me this morning that the cyst is the size of his fist. A tumor is what caused it, and there is a tumor below (the cyst).”

Pinnock says Richins’ most recent tumor is in a different spot than the rest have been, and it explains why he’s been having problems with speaking and walking.

“The doctor told him that if it was putting any more pressure on the center, on the stem or the column of his brain, that he would have been an emergency, and he would’ve had emergency surgery yesterday,” says Pinnock. “The doctor was surprised that he could still see.”

Richins went into emergency surgery at noon on Wednesday.

Pinnock says he and Richins have been best friends since 2013.

Richins, a father of three young kids, is caring, compassionate and willing to help anyone, anytime, says Pinnock.

“He’ll give the shirt off his back for anybody,” Pinnock says. “He’s always the guy that shows up on time when you need him. It doesn’t matter what time it is, or where it’s at, if you need help, and he’s your friend, he’s going to be there, no questions asked.”

Pinnock started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help raise money for Richins and his family during his recovery from brain surgery.

Click here to donate.

Richins owns his own business, Paragon Builders, in Idaho Falls, and will be unable to work during his recovery.

“His doctor says it will be at least 12 weeks before Dan is cleared to do anything more strenuous than lifting 30 pounds, which means he will be unable to work and support his family,” Pinnock writes in the GoFundMe. “The funds raised through this campaign will go directly toward covering Dan’s medical bills and helping his family manage the temporary loss of income while he focuses on healing and being there for his wife and three children.”

Pinnock is also organizing a raffle through Downwind Archery to raise money for the Richins family by selling 500 tickets at $50 each.

The raffle items include bows, rifles and other hunting equipment. For more information about the raffle, visit the Downwind Archery Facebook page.

Pinnock says, although the current situation isn’t “the birthday present (Richins) wanted,” he is looking forward to helping his friend during what will be a long recovery.

“Anything helps. whether it’s a dollar, a share or a prayer. Getting Dan’s story out there is what will help him the most. Thank you for taking the time to read, support and share,” Pinnock says in the GoFundMe. “Your kindness, generosity, and prayers mean the world to Dan, his family and everyone who cares about him.”

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