Joe Chaves

Greetings friends and family. As you may know, Joe has been experiencing extreme back and hip pain since December.  In early February he went to the doctor and had an x-ray.  This was followed by an MRI on February 20. These tests revealed a highly suspicious mass in, on and around his lumbar spine.  On February 22 he had a CT scan. This test revealed several other masses in his liver. On February  27 he had two more MRI's. These tests were inconclusive and on March 2 he underwent a liver biopsy. This test confirmed that the masses were metastatic carcinomas but the primary source was unknown. (If you don't speak cancer, this means the doctors don't know what type of cancer he has so they don't know how to treat it.)  After finally being referred to oncology, another biopsy was ordered this time of the tumor in/on his spine. This procedure took place on March 28. He also began a 10-day course of radiation on March 29 to try to reduce the tumor in/on his spine to relieve him of some of the pain he's experiencing. 

Joe has not been able to work since February and we don't expect he'll be able to return to the shop for the foreseeable. The goal of this campaign is to help cover any medical and all of his living expenses (food, gas, clothing, etc.). These funds will also enable me and our daughter Maddie to travel to Oregon from New York and Colorado respectively, to care for Joe.  I am Joe's primary primary caregiver, managing all of his medical and business affairs. Joe has full access to these funds.

Thank you for your support, Love, Mallory