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Prayers for Kevin Gormly

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Many have asked how they can help support our family. Though we are not ready for visitors at this point, it was suggested to set up a GoFundMe account for Kevin to allow people who want to help to donate to us. All donations made on this site go directly to the Gormly family to help cover Kevin's medical and living expenses. No contribution is too small, and all are appreciated from the bottom of our hearts.
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In early October, Kevin went to his doctor because he was suffering from severe headaches. Since he had previously had a cold, the doctor told him that a sinus infection was causing the headaches and prescribed him antibiotics. On October 7, his doctor told him to go to the Emergency Room because the headaches were becoming more severe despite being on antibiotics. ER tests revealed that he had a large brain tumor behind his right ear.

He was formally diagnosed with Glioblastoma and Gliosarcoma, a very aggressive and rare type of brain cancer, and was scheduled for immediate surgery to remove the tumor. Though the surgery went well, the surgeon was unable to remove all of the tumor. Within a few weeks, Kevin began his first round of radiation and chemo to kill the remaining part of the tumor, and he handled it like a champ.

Unfortunately near Christmastime, Kevin's severe headaches began again. He went to the ER and more scans and tests were done. These tests revealed that he had two new tumors.  On February 17, they operated again to remove the tumors, but found that one of the tumors wasn't actually a new one, but rather a new growth of the original tumor. They removed what they could of this new growth, and they set a schedule for another round of radiation and 2 types of chemo to follow.

During the next round of radiation, Kevin's incision site became irritated and reopened. His neurosurgeon decided to allow him more time before beginning chemo so that it could heal, and postponed chemo for 3 weeks. Without any ongoing treatment, Kevin started to feel well enough to play outside with our children and enjoy life once again. His incision, however, did not fully heal.

Then out of the blue on April 4, he woke in the early morning hours with the worst and most debilitating headaches he'd experienced, as well as uncontrollable vomiting. We rushed him to the ER where he was admitted once again to the hospital. The team of his doctors weren't sure what was causing Kevin's pain, so they ran tests and found two new small tumors, this time in a different location. The doctors, however, didn't think these tumors were causing his headaches because they were so small and did not show inflammation. Instead they thought he had an infection in the bone at the incision site.

They began to treat him with hard core IV antibiotics, but that did not help. They changed their course of treatment, thinking that perhaps it was an air pocket that was causing pressure headaches, so a week after being admitted, they did a craniotomy to remove a bone flap and eliminate the air pocket. This did not bring Kevin any relief either. The following week, the doctors thought that perhaps he had an excess of fluid in his brain, and that this was the cause of his worsening headaches. They put in a shunt to relieve that pressure, but still, the headaches worsened.

Running short on solutions and after 3 weeks of being an in-patient in the hospital, the team of doctors decided to run another MRI. The MRI showed that the 2 small tumors they found when Kevin had been admitted to the Hospital had grown very aggressively in just 3 weeks. Since Kevin was still too ill for any surgery or radiation to treat these growing tumors, they spent the last week of April getting him ready to be discharged from the hospital into home hospice care.

On May 4th, he was able to return home. With the help of hospice, he is resting comfortably and enjoying his time with us.

Kevin's prognosis is not good, and it has devastated our family. If Kevin is able to improve his condition, there is still an option for some radiation therapy to slow the growth of the tumors, and then we have the option to seek eligibility for a medical study. At this time, we ask that you keep Kevin and our family in your prayers. We know that God works miracles and we believe that Kevin is a miracle himself. Medicine can only go so far, but we know that God has the power to heal him.

Though we have not been able to respond to your emails, calls and texts, we have read every single one and thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and generosity.

With faith, hope and love,
Kevin and Veronica Gormly

Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $350 
    • 7 yrs

Organizer and beneficiary

Mandi Urban-Lester
Organizer
San Diego, CA
Veronica Gormly
Beneficiary

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