Big Als Support Fund
Donation protected
My father, who is a 40 year veteran pipeliner recently learned that he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (liver cancer). The liver cancer is a direct result of the Hepatitis C. The doctors have found multiple tumors on his liver with the largest being over 10cm wide. They recently discovered a small tumor on his kidney and a 1.8cm tumor on a lymph node in his abdomen. At this time it is undetermined if those 2 small tumors are cancer but the doctors are watching them closely and will make a decision soon whether or not to biopsy them.
My dad has seen an oncologist at UT Health San Antonio Mays Cancer Center and the doctors believed that he was a good candidate for a clinical trial study they were working on. He began the screening process and after several weeks it was determined that his irregular heartbeat made him no longer a candidate. The doctors then decided to start him on an oral chemotherapy medication. After taking it for 1 week he developed a reaction to the medicine called Hand-Foot Syndrome. It’s a very painful problem that affects your hands and feet with redness, swelling, tenderness, skin peeling, among other things, yet he continued to work. The doctors then advised him to temporarily quit taking the medication and allow his hands and feet to heal with a week off of work. A week later the pain subsided in his feet and hands and he was able to return to work and restart his chemo ( at a lower dose). 6 days later he started to notice his feet begin to hurt again and his hands were sore. He, again, called the doctor and they told him to stop the medication again. This time they advised if he wanted the medication to work he really needed to take a leave of absence from work and really allow the medication to do its job. You see, my dad is a heavy equipment mechanic. He walks all day on all kinds of terrain and uses his hands constantly, but this kind of work keeps his hands and feet agitated which doesn’t help with this particular side effect.
My step-mom, Suzanne, my sister, Haylee, and myself have been at home right beside my father to help him through this nasty cancer and now that he has had to leave work we are even more concerned about him being able to keep up with everything. I am writing to you all today to let you, his friends and family know that daddy is sick but not out of the game yet. And to ask you all if you have it to give please consider donating any amount to him and his family. If you can’t give please consider sharing and adding our family to your prayer list.
We, as his family have been so terribly upset and scared with this terrible ordeal decided to get a second opinion just to make sure that everything that can be done is being done and in a month dad has an appointment at MD Anderson in Houston. We are all a little nervous about what they will say but are confident that they will make sure that he is getting the best care possible. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the help, hugs and prayers!
With Love, Megan
My dad has seen an oncologist at UT Health San Antonio Mays Cancer Center and the doctors believed that he was a good candidate for a clinical trial study they were working on. He began the screening process and after several weeks it was determined that his irregular heartbeat made him no longer a candidate. The doctors then decided to start him on an oral chemotherapy medication. After taking it for 1 week he developed a reaction to the medicine called Hand-Foot Syndrome. It’s a very painful problem that affects your hands and feet with redness, swelling, tenderness, skin peeling, among other things, yet he continued to work. The doctors then advised him to temporarily quit taking the medication and allow his hands and feet to heal with a week off of work. A week later the pain subsided in his feet and hands and he was able to return to work and restart his chemo ( at a lower dose). 6 days later he started to notice his feet begin to hurt again and his hands were sore. He, again, called the doctor and they told him to stop the medication again. This time they advised if he wanted the medication to work he really needed to take a leave of absence from work and really allow the medication to do its job. You see, my dad is a heavy equipment mechanic. He walks all day on all kinds of terrain and uses his hands constantly, but this kind of work keeps his hands and feet agitated which doesn’t help with this particular side effect.
My step-mom, Suzanne, my sister, Haylee, and myself have been at home right beside my father to help him through this nasty cancer and now that he has had to leave work we are even more concerned about him being able to keep up with everything. I am writing to you all today to let you, his friends and family know that daddy is sick but not out of the game yet. And to ask you all if you have it to give please consider donating any amount to him and his family. If you can’t give please consider sharing and adding our family to your prayer list.
We, as his family have been so terribly upset and scared with this terrible ordeal decided to get a second opinion just to make sure that everything that can be done is being done and in a month dad has an appointment at MD Anderson in Houston. We are all a little nervous about what they will say but are confident that they will make sure that he is getting the best care possible. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the help, hugs and prayers!
With Love, Megan
Fundraising team (2)
Megan McDonald
Organizer
Canyon Lake, TX
Suzanne Robinett
Team member
