In 2021, Doug Ruch, a guy from Texas who was 55 years old at the time, received a diagnosis of prostate cancer. He was prepared to fight the disease.
Nevertheless, after spending his whole life savings on therapy over the course of the previous several years, he received the sad news in January of 2025 that his cancer had spread to other parts of his body and was now classified as stage 4.
According to his physician, he has the option of undergoing chemotherapy, which might potentially extend his life for an additional two years, or to forego treatment, which would result in a life expectancy of twelve to eighteen months.
“I thought to myself, I have two choices. I can sit at home and wait to die, or I can go out and live,” Ruch stated.
“I’m naturally a joyful person,” he stated on a GoFundMe fundraiser, “and not even the reality that I’m dying sooner than most will change that.”
Ruch arrived at the conclusion that the news should be interpreted as a call to action rather than as a sentence of death.
Before he passed away, he continued on GoFundMe by saying, “My dying wish is to help as many people going through tough times as I can before I went.”
Keeping this in mind, he embarked on his “Dying to Serve” trip across North America, with the intention of travelling to each of the fifty states and performing voluntary work there.
“I can’t go back, but I can go forward and help as many people as possible before I go,” Ruch stated.
Ruch started a GoFundMe campaign with the intention of raising money to support his efforts, with the first aim being $42,000.
In March, he moved out of his home, packed all of his stuff into his 2017 Chevrolet Malibu, and then set out on his journey. He did this after he had the funds to get started.
On his website, he details the sites that he has already visited, as well as the upcoming volunteer opportunities that he intends to take advantage of.
The majority of these opportunities will be in charitable organisations such as soup kitchens, senior centres, shelters, and food banks.
To this day, he has amassed more than $52,000 in order to finance the tour.
“Unfortunately, due to the broken United States healthcare system, I have spent my life savings just trying to survive these last few years,” he stated on GoFundMe.
“That’s why I’m asking for your support. I realize it’s a big ask as we all have our own burdens to bear but I truly believe that I can and will do much good with the time I have left.”
In an effort to “inspire volunteerism long after I’m gone,” he recently revealed that the kind donation will enable him to register Dying to Serve as a nonprofit.
Ruch has travelled over 4,000 miles on the tour so far, staying at hotels and Airbnbs and trying to keep each stay under $100.
His comfort is still affected by the cancer. He now plans one volunteer shift around every three days after realising that he must stop the road trip every hour to relieve himself.
In any case, he claimed that on volunteer days, he wakes up feeling “so happy,” as if he had been “shot out of a cannon.”
Ruch follows a fictitious schedule that is similar to the seasonal plan of a sports team or touring independent musician.
He uses sites like VolunteerMatch, JustServe, or others to sign up for volunteer shifts.
Read Also: Waitress, 81, Receives $300K in Donations After Retirement Struggle Shared Online
He has volunteered in 13 states as of April 15. And a few local residents show up to join him.
He said that after hearing his tale, four people joined him at his San Francisco stop, and that as he continues his tour, he would love nothing more than for more people to follow his call to do good.
“Help people and inspire more people to help people,” Ruch stated that it was his dying wish. “That’s it. That’s all.”
“If Dying to Serve can help inspire thousands of people to volunteer per year,” he continued on GoFundMe, “my story will end happily.”
