Help Jon Watson fight cancer!
Donation protected
Jon Watson battles cancer and needs a kidney transplant!
Jon Watson, a young healthy 39 year old man, single and raising two teenage daughters, had a toothache. He went to his dentist and Jon’s life was changed forever!
He was sent same day to an oral surgeon who did a biopsy. When the biopsy came back a week later, he was sent to UWMC (Harborview) to a dental surgeon specialist.
Jon’s diagnosis was “Squamous Cell Carcinoma Stage 4.”
Two weeks after his diagnosis, Jon had a major 17 hour surgery. This involved removal of his cheek, teeth and 32 lymphnodes. Reconstruction of his cheek was done which included removing a large section of his left arm tissue and a large blood vessel, so the new cheek tissue would survive.
After two and a half weeks (including 7 days in the ICU), Jon was sent home to heal and ready himself for chemo and radiation.
Having a tracheotomy for 3 weeks (and also a feeding tube for a month), the incision extended from behind his ear to the center of his chin, up to his lips and inside his mouth. This took 2 months to heal.
Once healed, he started chemo and radiation that same day which lasted for 6 weeks. During this time Jon suffered kidney failure and was in the hospital for an additional 3 weeks as he continued radiation but he was not able to have the final chemo as it was the cause of the kidney failure.
By December of the same year (2015), Jon had lost 100 pounds, he had more feeding tubes and was prepped 5 times for dialysis. He had severe pain in his arm and face, he lost all feeling on one side of his face, he has no taste buds and because of the strong radiation he can never have a tooth on the left side of his mouth pulled, although he has only a few left. He also has nerve damage throughout his chest and shoulder that creates pain that he has to live with on a daily basis.
Jon lost 9 and ½ months of work, was in the hospital off and on 6 times, he made over 60 trips from his home in Bremerton to UWMC main campus.
To date Jon is trying to work, has unending doctor appointments, and is getting ready to start the next page in his life of dialysis as he now has only 10% kidney function. He will not be able to have a kidney transplant for 5 years as they have to make sure the cancer is completely gone, it will be a long 5 years for Jon and his family. Plus the search to then to find a donor.
Also Jon’s mother has lived with him for several years, she is 63 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2016 and had a double mastectomy. They are trying to keep each other strong through these difficult times.
With mounting medical bills and travel expenses to and from Seattle from Bremerton, missing work due to medical appointments and procedures including frequent emergency room visits, this plea for any assistance large or small will be most appreciated and used toward the expenses associated with Jon’s cancer battle. Jon does have health insurance through his employer, but his out of pocket expenses are now in excess of $30,000 and continue to rise.
Jon has tried to hard to stay strong for his girls, he is a beautiful person, he has smiled when radiation burns were so bad he couldn’t open his mouth, and when he was so sick he couldn’t keep food down for weeks. As confirmed by his family and friends… through it all, he simply has been an amazing human being.
Please feel free to share this campaign on Facebook and emailing it to those who you know that aren’t connected on Facebook. The more we are able to share this, the more help we can get for Jon! Thank you!!
Jon Watson, a young healthy 39 year old man, single and raising two teenage daughters, had a toothache. He went to his dentist and Jon’s life was changed forever!
He was sent same day to an oral surgeon who did a biopsy. When the biopsy came back a week later, he was sent to UWMC (Harborview) to a dental surgeon specialist.
Jon’s diagnosis was “Squamous Cell Carcinoma Stage 4.”
Two weeks after his diagnosis, Jon had a major 17 hour surgery. This involved removal of his cheek, teeth and 32 lymphnodes. Reconstruction of his cheek was done which included removing a large section of his left arm tissue and a large blood vessel, so the new cheek tissue would survive.
After two and a half weeks (including 7 days in the ICU), Jon was sent home to heal and ready himself for chemo and radiation.
Having a tracheotomy for 3 weeks (and also a feeding tube for a month), the incision extended from behind his ear to the center of his chin, up to his lips and inside his mouth. This took 2 months to heal.
Once healed, he started chemo and radiation that same day which lasted for 6 weeks. During this time Jon suffered kidney failure and was in the hospital for an additional 3 weeks as he continued radiation but he was not able to have the final chemo as it was the cause of the kidney failure.
By December of the same year (2015), Jon had lost 100 pounds, he had more feeding tubes and was prepped 5 times for dialysis. He had severe pain in his arm and face, he lost all feeling on one side of his face, he has no taste buds and because of the strong radiation he can never have a tooth on the left side of his mouth pulled, although he has only a few left. He also has nerve damage throughout his chest and shoulder that creates pain that he has to live with on a daily basis.
Jon lost 9 and ½ months of work, was in the hospital off and on 6 times, he made over 60 trips from his home in Bremerton to UWMC main campus.
To date Jon is trying to work, has unending doctor appointments, and is getting ready to start the next page in his life of dialysis as he now has only 10% kidney function. He will not be able to have a kidney transplant for 5 years as they have to make sure the cancer is completely gone, it will be a long 5 years for Jon and his family. Plus the search to then to find a donor.
Also Jon’s mother has lived with him for several years, she is 63 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2016 and had a double mastectomy. They are trying to keep each other strong through these difficult times.
With mounting medical bills and travel expenses to and from Seattle from Bremerton, missing work due to medical appointments and procedures including frequent emergency room visits, this plea for any assistance large or small will be most appreciated and used toward the expenses associated with Jon’s cancer battle. Jon does have health insurance through his employer, but his out of pocket expenses are now in excess of $30,000 and continue to rise.
Jon has tried to hard to stay strong for his girls, he is a beautiful person, he has smiled when radiation burns were so bad he couldn’t open his mouth, and when he was so sick he couldn’t keep food down for weeks. As confirmed by his family and friends… through it all, he simply has been an amazing human being.
Please feel free to share this campaign on Facebook and emailing it to those who you know that aren’t connected on Facebook. The more we are able to share this, the more help we can get for Jon! Thank you!!
Organizer and beneficiary
Laura Miller
Organizer
Poulsbo, WA
Jon Watson
Beneficiary
