Family members say Chris Palmer, 39, was facing a terminal illness when he vanished off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and his dog was also in bad health. National Park Service photo
Read more at: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article314454453.html#storylink=cpy
An avid outdoorsman who vanished off North Carolina’s Outer Banks was terminally ill, according to family members. Chris Palmer, 39, may have chosen an uncertain fate in the Atlantic Ocean rather than face “the treatments ahead,” his father, Bren Palmer, wrote in a Jan. 24 Facebook post. TOP VIDEOS Palmer’s dog, Zoey, also went missing and she, too, was “in her final days,” the family reports. The National Park Service launched a search for Chris Palmer on Jan. 20, and has yet to report an outcome. “We, the family of Christopher Palmer, have made the difficult decision to request that all active search efforts for our son cease,” Bren Palmer wrote in the social media post. “We recently learned that Christopher was facing a terminal illness. Knowing this has helped us understand the choices he made. Christopher loved the outdoors and valued his independence. The treatments ahead would have taken much of that away, and he did not want that future for himself. … Our family believes our son perished in the sea.” His dog is also believed to be dead, though it’s not clear when or where the 11-year-old German shepherd died. Palmer owned the dog since she was a puppy, family members say. “Zoey was very sick, took several medications and also had sever hip dysplasia. It’s our belief that our son spent some time in the woods to be with her in her final days,” Bren Palmer wrote. “Evidence of that was a shovel found in his truck and after her passing he laid her to rest and continued his trip to the coast.” The National Park Service has not released details of whether the search has ceased, or if it has transitioned to a recovery effort. Palmer’s family says they made his health condition public hoping to bring “awareness to the emotional and mental burdens people can face during serious medical challenges.” The National Park Service says Palmer’s 2017 Ford F-250 pickup was discovered stuck on a beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore on Jan. 12. A review of traffic camera footage shows the truck was in Dare County “as early as the afternoon of Jan. 9,” and was carrying a blue and white kayak in the back. That kayak was missing when the truck was found near Cape Point in Buxton, park officials said. Relatives noted in a Jan. 19 Facebook post that Palmer and Zoey had been camping at various national parks in the region, and they had been at Washington National Forest in Virginia until Jan. 7. He was next expected to visit Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, relatives say. Cape Point is a remote 4WD beach in Buxton, “located at the veritable ‘point’ of Hatteras Island.” Waters off the point are treacherous, including colliding currents. Buxton is about a 240-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.