Rolling with the punches and refusing to accept defeat, even when all hope feels lost. 

That's the mindset of Damon Earin, who was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer in October 2025. 

He credits his “awesome family, great friends and great community” for encouraging him to remain strong as he battles against the deadly disease. 

“You just keep pushing forward — never down, never out,” Damon said. “It’s like, yeah I could be upset, but in my mind it's not worth it.” 

In April, Damon had a successful surgery to remove the tumor in his rectum. Still, the cancer had metastasized to his liver, producing a new challenge for him and his doctors to overcome.  

Following multiple tests, his team of doctors told Damon that his best chance of surviving the deadly disease is a liver transplant. 

“For a cancer patient to get a living donor liver is pretty rare,” said Damon. “But I still got to keep pushing to find a donor.” 

He, his wife, Elizabeth, and their team of doctors are actively searching for a living donor candidate, a search that could shorten if Damon's condition worsens. 

“We have to find someone as soon as possible,” Elizabeth said. 

Doctors said the donor must match Damon’s Type A blood, be of similar size and weight, be in good overall health and willing to complete the Mayo Clinic’s confidential evaluation process. 

In addition to his diagnoses, treatments, surgeries and now needing a liver transplant, Damon was recently terminated from his job in Alaska, cutting off his insurance, which is a requirement to be on the transplant list. 

Still, Damon isn’t letting the bad news bring him down. 

“There are a lot of things out of my control, which makes it tough,” Damon said. “The only thing you can do is be happy for what we have, live for each day and enjoy what we got.”   

He and Elizabeth have started running a webpage for Damon’s journey called ndno.org. The page is designed to help find him a donor while also bringing awareness to colorectal cancer.   

“From the beginning, Damon was adamant about wanting to help people not have to go through what he’s going through,” Elizabeth said.  

One of the many end goals for the Earins is to turn “Never down, never out” from a slogan to a fully functioning nonprofit organization. It would be dedicated to supporting local families that are dealing with colorectal cancer as well as advocating for testing.  

Damon’s advocacy has already had an effect.  

“That’s one of my favorite things that's come out of this is the number of people that have reached out to Damon and said they went and got checked because of his story and what he is going through,” Elizabeth said.