Jordan Bender Testicular Cancer Fund

It's been quite the year. I have over 120 visits to Hopkins and Indiana combined . In a recent consultation I received some positive news! The tumors responded well to the new chemo regimen over the last few weeks. All of the large masses have been reduced substantially and many of the smaller ones are all but gone.       I'm in Indianapolis now with Dr. Lawrence Einhorn and Dr Kenneth Kesler of IU School of Medicine - more experts on my team. Dr. Einhorn pioneered the development of the life-saving medical treatment in 1974 for testicular cancer, increasing the cure rate from 10% to 95%. I still have a rare form of a rare type of testicular cancer called PNET Teratoma. Lance Armstrong is one of his more famous patients. In 1996, Armstrong was battling stage three testicular cancer–that had spread to his brain, lungs, and abdomen. Dr. Einhorn led the medical team that treated Armstrong's cancer. By February 1997, Armstrong was declared cancer-free. I went in for my second Cardiothoracic surgery yesterday to have cancer removed from my chest. Also called a mediastinal tumor resection (similar to a sternotomy). The surgery lasted for several hours. I was moved to the ICU due to the complexity of the operation and pervasiveness of the disease. Although I eat healthy and exercise cancer is still found but I am able to recover from treatments quicker. The good news was that they were able to remove all of the cancer that they could see. The bad news was that it was worse than expected and the nerves to my vocal cords were damaged. I can only whisper. While the PNETs shrank drastically since the 6/20 CT scans, they grew in such a short time. There is evidence that PNETs still exist but the full pathology report is not complete. The hope is that the next rounds of adjuvant chemo will get rid of any residual cells. The chemo is about $15,000.00 per day and you can imagine the doctor, hospital and travel costs. If you could contact your congressional folks about appropriate healthcare I would really appreciate the help. Or if you could save any refrigerator boxes for living under the overpass that works too :) Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.