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I have never been one to ask for help, but sometimes life throws curveballs that make it necessary. My father has Non-small cell Stage 4 Lung Cancer.
My father has always been an extremely hard worker. He has always made sure my mother, sister, and I had everything we needed even if he was exhausted from work. Him and my mother have been together for 27 years and they are absolutely inseparable. He is only 47 years old.
I am asking for help because he has always made sure I was taken care of, no matter the situation, and I want to return the favor, by ensuring he doesn't have to face the burden of Bills, Radiation, Chemotherapy, and Immunotherapy treatments to fight the cancer, and the fact that the Stage 4 cancer has metastasized to other locations in the body which may make his prognosis worse than it already is.
My mother cannot work because she has had surgeries on both shoulders and a knee injury which has caused her to be unable to find employment. My father is currently unable to work due to being in the hospital for the last week and a half, and may not be able to return to work for a very long time while he battles this cancer. His job is very physically intensive and without full capacity of both working lungs, it will be nearly impossible.
Here is a bit of backstory. My father had a persistent cough and shortness of breath that would not go away throughout late March & The first week of April, but as all hard-working fathers do, he made due and pushed through it until he couldn't anymore.
On Wednesday, April 10th 2019, my father visited a local urgent care facility because he was at a point where he almost could not breathe. Upon arrival, he was given a chest x-ray, and upon completion, the doctor at the urgent care explained to him that he needed to go to our local hospital immediately for further examination.
When he arrived at the hospital, there were several days of testing involved, but the day after he arrived, the doctors did a chest X-Ray and a CT Scan, and determined his chest cavity had a Malignant Pleural Effusion, where the lungs fill with fluid.
On Thursday, April 11th, after being hooked up to several machines that assist with breathing, the doctors determined they needed to insert a tube into his back(Thoracentesis) to allow the fluid in his lungs to drain. The tube was left in until Friday morning, and the doctors had believed all the fluid was out of his chest cavity.
Later in the day Friday, it was determined that he still had a lot of fluid left that would still need to be drained. In total, from Thursday to Saturday, the doctors drained a total of 5 liters of fluid from his chest. Upon the completion of draining, a scan was done and it was determined that he had a mass by his right lung, the large amount of fluid in his chest had caused his right lung to collapse and shrink which was what had been causing the shortness of breath.
Because his lung was still collapsed, he was connected to more breathing assisting machines, and on Monday morning, a Biopsy was done on the fluid that had been drained from his chest cavity, and during the waiting time for the results, another Thoracentesis procedure was done to increase the size of the tube to drain the fluid from his chest cavity.
When the results from the fluid biopsy came back, our family was devastated. On Tuesday, April 16th 2019, my father was given the diagnosis of 'Non Small Cell Stage 4 Lung Cancer'.
On Wednesday, April 17th 2019, The doctors attempted to restore the size of his lung and put it into to its normal position in the chest, but failed because the Cancerous mass found was preventing his lung from expanding all the way.
On Thursday, April 18th 2019, a Pleurodesis procedure was done to scrape the chest lining and allow the lung to attach itself to the chest cavity to prevent further fluid from building up in his chest, and allow his lung to expand back to its normal size.
As many of you may know, Stage 4 is a very high stage of cancer and the prognosis usually is not very great. But my family remains optimistic and we hope my father can fight through this! Any amount helps!
Thank you all so much,
Dominic, Jutta, and Lindsey and Mike
My father has always been an extremely hard worker. He has always made sure my mother, sister, and I had everything we needed even if he was exhausted from work. Him and my mother have been together for 27 years and they are absolutely inseparable. He is only 47 years old.
I am asking for help because he has always made sure I was taken care of, no matter the situation, and I want to return the favor, by ensuring he doesn't have to face the burden of Bills, Radiation, Chemotherapy, and Immunotherapy treatments to fight the cancer, and the fact that the Stage 4 cancer has metastasized to other locations in the body which may make his prognosis worse than it already is.
My mother cannot work because she has had surgeries on both shoulders and a knee injury which has caused her to be unable to find employment. My father is currently unable to work due to being in the hospital for the last week and a half, and may not be able to return to work for a very long time while he battles this cancer. His job is very physically intensive and without full capacity of both working lungs, it will be nearly impossible.
Here is a bit of backstory. My father had a persistent cough and shortness of breath that would not go away throughout late March & The first week of April, but as all hard-working fathers do, he made due and pushed through it until he couldn't anymore.
On Wednesday, April 10th 2019, my father visited a local urgent care facility because he was at a point where he almost could not breathe. Upon arrival, he was given a chest x-ray, and upon completion, the doctor at the urgent care explained to him that he needed to go to our local hospital immediately for further examination.
When he arrived at the hospital, there were several days of testing involved, but the day after he arrived, the doctors did a chest X-Ray and a CT Scan, and determined his chest cavity had a Malignant Pleural Effusion, where the lungs fill with fluid.
On Thursday, April 11th, after being hooked up to several machines that assist with breathing, the doctors determined they needed to insert a tube into his back(Thoracentesis) to allow the fluid in his lungs to drain. The tube was left in until Friday morning, and the doctors had believed all the fluid was out of his chest cavity.
Later in the day Friday, it was determined that he still had a lot of fluid left that would still need to be drained. In total, from Thursday to Saturday, the doctors drained a total of 5 liters of fluid from his chest. Upon the completion of draining, a scan was done and it was determined that he had a mass by his right lung, the large amount of fluid in his chest had caused his right lung to collapse and shrink which was what had been causing the shortness of breath.
Because his lung was still collapsed, he was connected to more breathing assisting machines, and on Monday morning, a Biopsy was done on the fluid that had been drained from his chest cavity, and during the waiting time for the results, another Thoracentesis procedure was done to increase the size of the tube to drain the fluid from his chest cavity.
When the results from the fluid biopsy came back, our family was devastated. On Tuesday, April 16th 2019, my father was given the diagnosis of 'Non Small Cell Stage 4 Lung Cancer'.
On Wednesday, April 17th 2019, The doctors attempted to restore the size of his lung and put it into to its normal position in the chest, but failed because the Cancerous mass found was preventing his lung from expanding all the way.
On Thursday, April 18th 2019, a Pleurodesis procedure was done to scrape the chest lining and allow the lung to attach itself to the chest cavity to prevent further fluid from building up in his chest, and allow his lung to expand back to its normal size.
As many of you may know, Stage 4 is a very high stage of cancer and the prognosis usually is not very great. But my family remains optimistic and we hope my father can fight through this! Any amount helps!
Thank you all so much,
Dominic, Jutta, and Lindsey and Mike
Organizer
Dominic Tommingo
Organizer
Cedar Rapids, IA
