GOAL REACHED! Donations not needed.
Donation protected
So, a little before the Carr Fire started attacking Shasta County, I received a phone call from my primary care provider at the local VA hospital. Seems the CAT scan I received that was searching for hernias (They found two FYI) also found a 3 CM mass on my right kidney.
So the next month-ish, in addition to leaving the city for a couple of days to get away from the fire, I have spoken to four different doctors and I have been given a 90% chance that this is Renal Cell Cancer. The positive to this type particular cancer is that removal is likely to fix the immediate issue of having a cancerous growth in your body, free to do whatever it likes or build a Starbucks. They are going to cut out the cancer and a large chunk of my right kidney. After that, I should be cancer free. I will certainly be the proud new owner of a kidney scan every year just to make sure Amber doesn't try and poison me again.
So on the 12th of September I am driving down to Sacramento and staying in a VA supplied hotel (Very cool BTW) then getting up the next day at 5:00 AM to have a very nice surgeon named Dr. Jaclyn-Jin-Ling Chen, from the VAMC Mather Hospital, via use of a robot (Suri, Cortona or maybe even Skynet), hack out a large chuck of Tony. They estimated the recovery time (At the hospital) to be three to five days and total recovery to be one to two months.
Here is our problem. I'm going to have to go down alone. After the Carr Fire, we are completely strapped. Not only did we have to leave, but the part time job I'm working is based on us traveling through Shasta County in search of certain lakes and finding certain fish/amphibian life... not something to do when everything is on fire and the biologist in charge is assisting on the fire. Ideally Amber and the kids would come down and stay the entire time, but that's not feasible. Their school and money prevent this. So we were hoping to "GoFundMe" enough money for Amber and the kids to come down on Friday and Saturday and hopefully be there to help me as I am released from the hospital.
What we will use the money for: The hotel, food for Amber and the kids, gas to get us down there and back, the inevitable things that come up when you are traveling away from home. If there is still money after all of that, it will be used on whatever bill we will certainly be struggling to afford to pay as I have no idea what will be happening while I am recovering.
This is never something I thought I'd have to do... but we really don't know what else to do. Thanks for taking the time to listen.
Edit One: Corrected the surgeons name to Dr. Jaclyn-Jin-Ling Chen and the hospital name to VAMC Mather.
Edit Two: I changed the "goal" to $1000. GoFundMe wants you to start all campaigns at a thousand. I bumped it down to five hundred because I never thought we'd get there. Period. We now have the ability to bring the family down and help me get back to Redding. Thank you. Everyone. The reason I moved up the amount is simple, anything that comes now will help us while I'm recovering. The money we have now is the money we're desperate for. I will not change the amount again. If for some un-Jimmy Howardly reason it gets to a thousand I will shut down the site. If anyone has any questions PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE ME (via Facebook would be easiest).
TL;DR, Moved goal to $1000 after getting to $500 in less than a day. Everything above the $500 amount is going to helping with the bills while I recover.
Edit Three: DONE! Wow. Thank everyone so much. I... don't really have words. Thank you.
No more donations are needed. I had planned on just suspending the campaign or closing it completely but if I do that only people who donated will receive updates. Please, donations are not needed. I hate asking for money and I don't want to ask for anymore. Unless someone objects, I will leave it open with a headline change asking for people to not donate. This way I can post updates to one place that is public. I could just do this on Facebook but lets "face" it, I only have four Facebook friends (Love you Mom). I will update the day before surgery (When I get to the hotel) and in the morning the next day. Jimmy Howard willing I'll also post later that day. In the very, very wise words of someone who is totally awesome...
"黙れ そして マフィンを食べなさい ."
So the next month-ish, in addition to leaving the city for a couple of days to get away from the fire, I have spoken to four different doctors and I have been given a 90% chance that this is Renal Cell Cancer. The positive to this type particular cancer is that removal is likely to fix the immediate issue of having a cancerous growth in your body, free to do whatever it likes or build a Starbucks. They are going to cut out the cancer and a large chunk of my right kidney. After that, I should be cancer free. I will certainly be the proud new owner of a kidney scan every year just to make sure Amber doesn't try and poison me again.
So on the 12th of September I am driving down to Sacramento and staying in a VA supplied hotel (Very cool BTW) then getting up the next day at 5:00 AM to have a very nice surgeon named Dr. Jaclyn-Jin-Ling Chen, from the VAMC Mather Hospital, via use of a robot (Suri, Cortona or maybe even Skynet), hack out a large chuck of Tony. They estimated the recovery time (At the hospital) to be three to five days and total recovery to be one to two months.
Here is our problem. I'm going to have to go down alone. After the Carr Fire, we are completely strapped. Not only did we have to leave, but the part time job I'm working is based on us traveling through Shasta County in search of certain lakes and finding certain fish/amphibian life... not something to do when everything is on fire and the biologist in charge is assisting on the fire. Ideally Amber and the kids would come down and stay the entire time, but that's not feasible. Their school and money prevent this. So we were hoping to "GoFundMe" enough money for Amber and the kids to come down on Friday and Saturday and hopefully be there to help me as I am released from the hospital.
What we will use the money for: The hotel, food for Amber and the kids, gas to get us down there and back, the inevitable things that come up when you are traveling away from home. If there is still money after all of that, it will be used on whatever bill we will certainly be struggling to afford to pay as I have no idea what will be happening while I am recovering.
This is never something I thought I'd have to do... but we really don't know what else to do. Thanks for taking the time to listen.
Edit One: Corrected the surgeons name to Dr. Jaclyn-Jin-Ling Chen and the hospital name to VAMC Mather.
Edit Two: I changed the "goal" to $1000. GoFundMe wants you to start all campaigns at a thousand. I bumped it down to five hundred because I never thought we'd get there. Period. We now have the ability to bring the family down and help me get back to Redding. Thank you. Everyone. The reason I moved up the amount is simple, anything that comes now will help us while I'm recovering. The money we have now is the money we're desperate for. I will not change the amount again. If for some un-Jimmy Howardly reason it gets to a thousand I will shut down the site. If anyone has any questions PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE ME (via Facebook would be easiest).
TL;DR, Moved goal to $1000 after getting to $500 in less than a day. Everything above the $500 amount is going to helping with the bills while I recover.
Edit Three: DONE! Wow. Thank everyone so much. I... don't really have words. Thank you.
No more donations are needed. I had planned on just suspending the campaign or closing it completely but if I do that only people who donated will receive updates. Please, donations are not needed. I hate asking for money and I don't want to ask for anymore. Unless someone objects, I will leave it open with a headline change asking for people to not donate. This way I can post updates to one place that is public. I could just do this on Facebook but lets "face" it, I only have four Facebook friends (Love you Mom). I will update the day before surgery (When I get to the hotel) and in the morning the next day. Jimmy Howard willing I'll also post later that day. In the very, very wise words of someone who is totally awesome...
"黙れ そして マフィンを食べなさい ."
Organizer
Tony Trujillo
Organizer
Redding, CA
