Alex Dedmon's Rectal Cancer Battle
Donation protected
I never thought I would ever see my mom and dad cry, and look at me as if an impending cloud with a ticking clock loomed over me. That day happened on January 18th, 2017 when I was diagnosed with the most dangerous stage of rectal cancer.
Shortly thereafter, my world entered a downhill spiral. I was thrown mercilessly into daily chemo and radiation treatments, blood draws, and personal probing in areas I would have never thought possible. I experienced pain, fatigue, and desperation with every drawn out treatment and asked myself, why me?
Why anyone? No one should ever have to suffer through cancer. No one should ever have to deal with the doubt and fears that plague your mind, day in and day out. I felt lost, and scared. Battling cancer has been more than just a test of my strength - it has been a test of my will to live.
I'm still fighting. I fight for my life every day. If the chemo, radiation, and countless drugs I have to take don't destroy me, the fear that cancer will still plagues my mind.
Fighting cancer has been a physical, emotional, and financial toll. As a full time PhD student and teaching assistant at the University of California, Davis, I have had to entirely halt my research and teaching, because treatments have left me extremely sick and bedridden. I have tried my best to live a semblance of a normal life, but unfortunately, the road ahead only gets tougher...
My name is Alex. I am reaching out to my loved ones, friends, and community for help during this time. My diagnosis with stage IV rectal cancer with metastasis to the liver and suspicious nodules in my lungs has been one of the biggest things I have ever had to come to term with in my life. The treatments, specialists, appointments, and everything else have left me financially struggling, and I am unable to work with the back to back surgeries, chemo, and radiation treatments.
My research and teaching mean a lot to me, and allow me to enjoy giving back to my community. Through outreach programs, I educate youth all over California about college life, forensic science, and entomology. I'm a huge outdoor enthusiast, and love studying insects and enjoying nature. I volunteer with a few animal rescues, and you'll regularly find me bottle feeding neonatal kittens and tending to senior dogs and cats. I am eager to return to doing what I love to do best.
Thank you for your support.
Shortly thereafter, my world entered a downhill spiral. I was thrown mercilessly into daily chemo and radiation treatments, blood draws, and personal probing in areas I would have never thought possible. I experienced pain, fatigue, and desperation with every drawn out treatment and asked myself, why me?
Why anyone? No one should ever have to suffer through cancer. No one should ever have to deal with the doubt and fears that plague your mind, day in and day out. I felt lost, and scared. Battling cancer has been more than just a test of my strength - it has been a test of my will to live.
I'm still fighting. I fight for my life every day. If the chemo, radiation, and countless drugs I have to take don't destroy me, the fear that cancer will still plagues my mind.
Fighting cancer has been a physical, emotional, and financial toll. As a full time PhD student and teaching assistant at the University of California, Davis, I have had to entirely halt my research and teaching, because treatments have left me extremely sick and bedridden. I have tried my best to live a semblance of a normal life, but unfortunately, the road ahead only gets tougher...
My name is Alex. I am reaching out to my loved ones, friends, and community for help during this time. My diagnosis with stage IV rectal cancer with metastasis to the liver and suspicious nodules in my lungs has been one of the biggest things I have ever had to come to term with in my life. The treatments, specialists, appointments, and everything else have left me financially struggling, and I am unable to work with the back to back surgeries, chemo, and radiation treatments.
My research and teaching mean a lot to me, and allow me to enjoy giving back to my community. Through outreach programs, I educate youth all over California about college life, forensic science, and entomology. I'm a huge outdoor enthusiast, and love studying insects and enjoying nature. I volunteer with a few animal rescues, and you'll regularly find me bottle feeding neonatal kittens and tending to senior dogs and cats. I am eager to return to doing what I love to do best.
Thank you for your support.
Organizer
Alex Dedmon
Organizer
Davis, CA
