Funds being raised for Whitefish’s Bill Hill after rare cancer diagnosis

Whitefish community member Bill Hill has been a baseball and boxing coach and active volunteer in the Flathead Valley for many years.

He was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 chronic leukemia with a rare mutation of P17 Deletion (TD53) and, according to his family members, it will take an advanced treatment in order to improve the future outlook of his health.

The rare mutation in the stage 4 chronic leukemia that he was diagnosed with makes typical treatments generally ineffective. And later on once in remission, Hill will need STEM cell treatment, according to the Hill family.

The Hill family set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the specialized cancer treatments that are not covered by insurance and in three weeks nearly $50,000 had already been donated to the fund.

Hill, along with his wife Brandy, traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, in mid-April to start his treatments at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and has since returned home hopeful the next round of treatments can be administered locally.

Hill is well-known in Whitefish as for 30 years he’s worked at Hill Brothers Auto Body, which is owned by his brother Gene and his wife Teri. Bill, Gene and their brother Joe all volunteer their time selflessly in the community, as did their parents, by supporting local fundraisers, causes and sports programs around the valley, according to the family. The Hill brothers were honored with the Youth Activities Volunteers of the Year Award from The Whitefish Chamber of Commerce in 2008. Their parents, Rusty and JoAnn Hill, received the same award decades earlier.

Hill has coached generations of kids in baseball and boxing and now coaches his own sons and his daughter. The GoFundMe page set up by the Hill family says, “He has done so (coaching and volunteering) because he loves his family, he loves being involved, and loves giving back to his community.”

The family says there will be upcoming fundraising events held by various members, businesses and programs within the community.

Within 24 hours of its creation, Bill’s GoFundMe page had already raised $25,000 and that number has inclined to nearly $50,000 in just a few weeks but that still only puts a dent in the cost for Bill to receive the advanced treatments he needs.

The page has set a goal of raising $100,000.

For more information, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/batting-for-bill or join the Facebook group called “Batting for Bill.”