Our team

Background:

David (Co-founder of TAG) has a personal connection to this mission. His daughter Ty was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2013 and he has been giving back to the cancer community ever since. He has donated to multiple charities and attended events in order to raise funds and awareness for the community that he is now supporting on an even bigger scale with TAG. David is an Air Force veteran and has been a machinist in the oil and gas industry for over 15 years. He then started his own field machining company in 2016 and he owns his own powder coating business based out of Longview TX where he lives with his wife and children.

Personal Statement:

“My story started on August 27th, 2013, when my daughter Ty age 15 had come home from school in tears that her hip was giving out and she was having difficulty walking. We took her to Memorial Herman in Houston Texas, and she was diagnosed with a slipped capital femoral epiphysis. At the time the doctors referred her to Dr Waguespack, an endocrinologist at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center. This would be the turning point that had Lisa, my wife, and I in tears. The doctors did a blood analysis and discovered that our daughter Ty had Multiple endocrine neoplasia 2b (MEN2B). It is a rare inherited disorder characterized by the certain development of medullary thyroid cancer, plus the possible development of pheochromocytomas and characteristic tumors (mucosal neuromas) of the lips, tongue, and bowels. Parathyroid disease is extremely rare in MEN2B, and MEN2B is a very rare condition in general and is estimated to only occur in approximately one in every 1–4 million people. Ty then went through several surgeries first to repair the SCFE in her hip and then we proceeded to move forward having her Thyroid removed. The next step was to have the mucosal neuromas removed from her lips. For years my daughter has fought this disease with the help of MD Anderson cancer center in Houston. Ty is 25 years old now and holds a full time job while getting her degree. Ty goes in for checkups and to look for tumor markers every 6 months but seems to hold it together very well. 

While my daughter was 16 years old I started to build custom tailgate benches as donations to help people battling cancer. As I built these benches I had the opportunity to meet some really genuine individuals throughout Houston and surrounding cities. I donated multiple benches to organizations like The Reel Deal, Cowboys and Angels, Guitars for the Cure, and The American Cancer Society Cattle Baron's Ball in East Texas. This was my way of giving back to help those in need, and 100% of all proceeds from the benches were giving to the individuals that these benefits were intended for. I was very thankful for a great job to help pay for all of my daughters medical bills throughout the years, but I know that is a privilege most families don’t have which is one of the reasons we started TAG.”