On Thanksgiving, Tom Carter of Ferndale developed a fierce headache. Just a few months later on Feb. 3, he died after a hard-fought battle against an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Along with the shock and grief of Tom’s death at 68, his widow Virginia “Jen” Carter was left with 29 horses, five dogs, multiple cats and a huge mortgage beyond her means. She has put out a plea for horse lovers to adopt the remaining Arabian, appaloosa and mustang horses.

“If they can afford to give a donation, I would appreciate it,” Jen Carter said on Tuesday. “But just the fact that they’re adopting them and spending their time and money is a donation in itself.”

Her difficult decision to let go of all the horses marks the end of a Montana dream that began for the couple in 2007. After wildfires came too close to their horse facility in San Diego, they relocated their operation to Ferndale with high expectations. 

“We moved here to have a better life for our horses, our animals and ourselves,” she said.

According to Carter, both she and her husband grew up on farms. They invested in top quality stock.

“We have appaloosas — the ones that came from the Nez Perce Indians. They’re five generations pure,” she said. “We also breed Arabians. They are for our clients who might want our stallion to breed with their mare or our mare to their stallion — kind of create your own foal.”

Their first few years were spent building the horse stalls, shelters and fences and making repairs.

Then, as the recession destroyed the home-building industry, Tom lost his job as a construction estimator that he performed from Ferndale for a contractor in Huntington Beach.

Before that, they were living their dream.

“We had a plan. We bought our farm equipment. We had money to pay for it,” she said. “Then the crash took his IRA.”

About two years ago, Jen found a job as a sales representative at Herberger’s. Tom then joined her working in the freight department at a department store.

“So he was working there and he also had a job at Bigfork High School working as a substitute teacher,” Jen said. “With a few jobs, we were still making it. We were keeping our heads above water. Then this happened.”

She recalled that Tom assumed his terrible headache on Thanksgiving was a severe migraine since he had suffered from them most of his life.

He was fine the next day.

“He eventually had a symptom that was undeniably something very, very wrong,” she said. “We rushed him into the doctor and they put him in the hospital and did an MRI. They found a brain tumor the size of a chicken’s egg pressing against his brain.”

In early December, Tom survived an operation to remove the tumor. He was scheduled for chemotherapy and radiation to tackle any remaining glioblastoma  multiforme grade 4, one of the most aggressive forms of primary brain tumors.

Both Jen and Tom had high hopes after reading stories of five-year survivals from similar patients on the Internet. After several medical setbacks and one round of radiation, Tom went sharply downhill and entered the hospital.

“The CAT scan showed that the tumor had not only grown back, but it had gone from one side of his forehead to the other,” she said. “It was that fast.”

He wanted to try more chemotherapy even though he knew it had less than a one percent chance of success. Jen said he remained optimistic, upbeat and happy, refusing to give up.

When his last assault against the cancer failed, Tom moved into hospice and died surrounded by family on Feb. 3.

“His sister came out from Florida, his kids came out from San Diego, I was there every day, just giving him the most support possible,” she said.

Before he became ill and during his short battle, the couple had tried numerous options to reduce their costs. They tried to reduce their herd by contacting sanctuaries but all were at capacity from other people who could no longer afford their horses.

The couple tried for nine months to have their mortgage modified by Bank of America but were refused in the end. Jen again has submitted paperwork outlining her worsened circumstances, hoping for a change of heart from the bank.

“I have farm equipment for sale. I have the house for sale,” she said. “I’m trying not to go into foreclosure but the mortgage is $2,857 a month. It’s horrific. I just can’t do that on my own.”

Jen called her situation a downhill spiral until word got out via friends and by Web pages including a request for people to help placed on the Daily Inter Lake’s Facebook page late Friday.

“We have started getting help from the wonderful people of this community. They have taken horses,” Jen said. “Today, there will be a tenth one leaving.”

She said horses remaining include a couple of mustangs, one horse with some western training, a “really nice saddlebred/Arabian mare and a gorgeous little gelding that’s 7 years old.”

“There’s a bay mare that is just drop-dead gorgeous, too,” Jen said.

She also has a stallion and another mare with top-notch bloodlines.

 Jen prefers that people send emails to tkcarter3@gmail.com so she has a written record of what they want and she can get back to them. She said she also will return calls left on her voicemail at 406-837-0985.

People can view the horses at www.carterarabians.com and at www.carterarabians.blogspot.com that includes a button for cash contributions to help with funeral costs and medical bills.

“It also has pictures [of Tom] so people might remember him,” she said.

 Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.