Greg Chappel Recovery Fund
Donation protected
I was shocked to open my facebook page on Wednesday to read Greg's announcement that he was diagnosed with cancer. I like hundreds of others posted messages of prayers, and well wishes. I immediately thought of the financial implications that this would have for his family.
As a fellow trainer I know all to well the realities of living session to session, we often do what we do because we have a passion for people and fitness. But there is no 401k plan, there is no disability time, there is just us and our dreams and our clients. When you take an extended absence it can be a HUGE loss of income. I have started this page for us to help bridge that gap for Greg and his family. The money you donate will help with medical expenses, recovery time, and life expenses such as kyrielle's preschool, food, gas and other essentials.
Additionally for those of Gregs clients that are wishing to continue working out, you may attend my studios Group Personal Training sessions and you will continue to pay Greg, that way you won't lose ground on your workouts and he will still get paid. Greg will write your workouts and me and my trainers will execute them for you. He will get notes and training charts on each client and on the days he is feeling good he will train you at warriors heart. contact Greg and he will arrange your session times with me.
About Greg and Churryl:
Greg and Churrly just married on 5-22-21013, 1 day after their 6 month anniversary. Their blended family includes 5 kids between them; Brent 23, Shenyiea 24, Hudson 16, Brienza 12 and Kyrielle 4. They currently financially support all 5 of their kids even though they do not all live together in the same house. Greg of course is self employed with his training. Churryl works down town San Diego for BB&T John Burnham Insurance and commutes to work daily 80 miles each way. Churryl has been in pain for months for a recently diagnosed problem with Piriformis Syndrome, being pain free following an injection they where so excited to move on with their happy married life until just days later Greg was diagnosed with Cancer
Greg noticed a lump in the left side of his neck. The doctor did a needle biopsy in his neck and the results came back positive for cancer. The doctor then did another needle biopsy in his tonsils and that too came back positive for cancer. The doctor believes that this is the point of origination for the cancer. A PET/CT scan was done this past Saturday and on Monday the doctor called to let Churryl and Greg know that the cancer is not showing up any other place in his body, again THANK GOD!! They then met with both the chemotherapist and the radiologist on Monday and they both advised of what they are wanting to do procedure wise but first Greg needs to have a radical surgery to have the tonsils removed and his throat scraped so that a biopsy can be done to determine the exact type of cancer they are dealing with. That is what was done Thursday Aug 8. The chemo therapist wants to give Greg about 2 weeks to heal from this surgery and then he wants to do another surgery on Greg to put a 'port' in his chest. This is a tube that is placed under his skin and accessible for the chemotherapy treatments/injections. Greg will be given 1 cycle of Chemo to start and he will need to go to the clinic the first day for six hours to get his first injection. He will then be sent home hooked up to a pump that resembles a little hand held box. This pump will randomly inject Greg's body with the chemo med's for 5 days on and off. On the 5th day Greg will go to the doc and they will take the pump off and he will have 3 weeks to rest without chemo. In the meantime he needs to see a specialty dentist that will make him 2 radiation shields for his mouth. This is to protect his teeth as much as possible while he has the radiation treatments. He will also have to have any dental work done on his teeth as well prior to any radiation being done because he cannot have any problems with his mouth while doing radiation. If a problem was to arise with his teeth and he needed to get a tooth pulled while during radiation the doctors says that his jaw could literally fall apart/crumble
When the dentist is done with Greg he will then begin his second cycle of Chemo, just as the first session. He will also start radiation treatments at this time as well. The doctors are hoping that the Chemo reduces the size of the lumps in the lympnodes in Greg's neck significantly to reduce the amount of radiation he will need. Right now they are guesstimating he will need 6-7 weeks of straight radiation M-F with weekends off. He will start the radiation with the 2nd cycle of Chemo. The other issue is that they have also found some additional shadowing in the right side of Greg's neck. Since Greg has nearly no body fat it is hard for the doctors to determine if these shadows are cancer or not. They shadows are also very small so it is pretty impossible to biopsy them as well. This now has the radiologist wanting to apply radiation to both the left and right side of Greg's neck. He wants to treat the shadows as if they too are cancer to be safe
The issues that Greg and Churryl are up against with radiation are these:
1. Greg is going to lose his sense of taste - it may return after treatment is over and it may not and it could take months to a year of longer to return if it does.
2. Since the radiation is going to be focused so close to the saliva glands it is a pretty sure bet that that saliva glands are going to be damaged a bit. This could cause up to a 50% loss of saliva FOREVER. 3. The treatment is going to cause a thick mucus buildup in Greg's throat and there is nothing that can be done about that. It should go away after treatment is done.
4. Greg is going to experience what is like a SEVERE sunburn on both the outside of his neck and inside of his mouth and it is going to make it very hard to eat anything. There is no medication to take this pain away.
5. The next MAJOR issue is the swallowing mechanism in Greg's throat, the doctor says it is very complex part of our bodies. It is going to begin to have difficulty operating/functioning. This is going to make it even more difficult for Greg to swallow.
If Greg cannot keep himself hydrated because he will not be able to eat for about 2 months then they will do another surgery and they will put a tube in his stomach that comes outside of his stomach that liquid can be poured into for him to be able to take in fluids. Greg doesn't want this at all. They are anticipating that his treatments will be done prior to Christmas.
Greg says that he is going to be one of the elite that doesn't react to this treatment like others because he is such good health, as the doctors told him he is. He plans on working as much as possible through this entire ordeal
That is their story......" Greg is an amazing man and I knew that the second I met him. His love for his job and his life style and the people that are in his world such as his friends and family and clients are all very dear to his heart. The time that he hasn't been able to work thus far is killing him and the worst part of it all is that Greg will not be able to workout himself until this ordeal is over. He is not even allowed to do demonstrations of any kind for his clients. His only guidance to them will have to be verbal or with hand motions."
Please donate! every little bit will help them thru this ordeal!
As a fellow trainer I know all to well the realities of living session to session, we often do what we do because we have a passion for people and fitness. But there is no 401k plan, there is no disability time, there is just us and our dreams and our clients. When you take an extended absence it can be a HUGE loss of income. I have started this page for us to help bridge that gap for Greg and his family. The money you donate will help with medical expenses, recovery time, and life expenses such as kyrielle's preschool, food, gas and other essentials.
Additionally for those of Gregs clients that are wishing to continue working out, you may attend my studios Group Personal Training sessions and you will continue to pay Greg, that way you won't lose ground on your workouts and he will still get paid. Greg will write your workouts and me and my trainers will execute them for you. He will get notes and training charts on each client and on the days he is feeling good he will train you at warriors heart. contact Greg and he will arrange your session times with me.
About Greg and Churryl:
Greg and Churrly just married on 5-22-21013, 1 day after their 6 month anniversary. Their blended family includes 5 kids between them; Brent 23, Shenyiea 24, Hudson 16, Brienza 12 and Kyrielle 4. They currently financially support all 5 of their kids even though they do not all live together in the same house. Greg of course is self employed with his training. Churryl works down town San Diego for BB&T John Burnham Insurance and commutes to work daily 80 miles each way. Churryl has been in pain for months for a recently diagnosed problem with Piriformis Syndrome, being pain free following an injection they where so excited to move on with their happy married life until just days later Greg was diagnosed with Cancer
Greg noticed a lump in the left side of his neck. The doctor did a needle biopsy in his neck and the results came back positive for cancer. The doctor then did another needle biopsy in his tonsils and that too came back positive for cancer. The doctor believes that this is the point of origination for the cancer. A PET/CT scan was done this past Saturday and on Monday the doctor called to let Churryl and Greg know that the cancer is not showing up any other place in his body, again THANK GOD!! They then met with both the chemotherapist and the radiologist on Monday and they both advised of what they are wanting to do procedure wise but first Greg needs to have a radical surgery to have the tonsils removed and his throat scraped so that a biopsy can be done to determine the exact type of cancer they are dealing with. That is what was done Thursday Aug 8. The chemo therapist wants to give Greg about 2 weeks to heal from this surgery and then he wants to do another surgery on Greg to put a 'port' in his chest. This is a tube that is placed under his skin and accessible for the chemotherapy treatments/injections. Greg will be given 1 cycle of Chemo to start and he will need to go to the clinic the first day for six hours to get his first injection. He will then be sent home hooked up to a pump that resembles a little hand held box. This pump will randomly inject Greg's body with the chemo med's for 5 days on and off. On the 5th day Greg will go to the doc and they will take the pump off and he will have 3 weeks to rest without chemo. In the meantime he needs to see a specialty dentist that will make him 2 radiation shields for his mouth. This is to protect his teeth as much as possible while he has the radiation treatments. He will also have to have any dental work done on his teeth as well prior to any radiation being done because he cannot have any problems with his mouth while doing radiation. If a problem was to arise with his teeth and he needed to get a tooth pulled while during radiation the doctors says that his jaw could literally fall apart/crumble
When the dentist is done with Greg he will then begin his second cycle of Chemo, just as the first session. He will also start radiation treatments at this time as well. The doctors are hoping that the Chemo reduces the size of the lumps in the lympnodes in Greg's neck significantly to reduce the amount of radiation he will need. Right now they are guesstimating he will need 6-7 weeks of straight radiation M-F with weekends off. He will start the radiation with the 2nd cycle of Chemo. The other issue is that they have also found some additional shadowing in the right side of Greg's neck. Since Greg has nearly no body fat it is hard for the doctors to determine if these shadows are cancer or not. They shadows are also very small so it is pretty impossible to biopsy them as well. This now has the radiologist wanting to apply radiation to both the left and right side of Greg's neck. He wants to treat the shadows as if they too are cancer to be safe
The issues that Greg and Churryl are up against with radiation are these:
1. Greg is going to lose his sense of taste - it may return after treatment is over and it may not and it could take months to a year of longer to return if it does.
2. Since the radiation is going to be focused so close to the saliva glands it is a pretty sure bet that that saliva glands are going to be damaged a bit. This could cause up to a 50% loss of saliva FOREVER. 3. The treatment is going to cause a thick mucus buildup in Greg's throat and there is nothing that can be done about that. It should go away after treatment is done.
4. Greg is going to experience what is like a SEVERE sunburn on both the outside of his neck and inside of his mouth and it is going to make it very hard to eat anything. There is no medication to take this pain away.
5. The next MAJOR issue is the swallowing mechanism in Greg's throat, the doctor says it is very complex part of our bodies. It is going to begin to have difficulty operating/functioning. This is going to make it even more difficult for Greg to swallow.
If Greg cannot keep himself hydrated because he will not be able to eat for about 2 months then they will do another surgery and they will put a tube in his stomach that comes outside of his stomach that liquid can be poured into for him to be able to take in fluids. Greg doesn't want this at all. They are anticipating that his treatments will be done prior to Christmas.
Greg says that he is going to be one of the elite that doesn't react to this treatment like others because he is such good health, as the doctors told him he is. He plans on working as much as possible through this entire ordeal
That is their story......" Greg is an amazing man and I knew that the second I met him. His love for his job and his life style and the people that are in his world such as his friends and family and clients are all very dear to his heart. The time that he hasn't been able to work thus far is killing him and the worst part of it all is that Greg will not be able to workout himself until this ordeal is over. He is not even allowed to do demonstrations of any kind for his clients. His only guidance to them will have to be verbal or with hand motions."
Please donate! every little bit will help them thru this ordeal!
Organizer
Gregory L. Chappel
Organizer
