Funeral and Family Expenses

Hi my name is Jamie and I am fundraising for the Ingram Family.

The Ingram family has gone through a lot in the last 5 months.

The story begins a couple years ago but problems began to arise a little over a year ago when Jason found out he was diagnosed with stage 3 Melanoma and had a baseball size tumor in his lymph nodes. After it was removed, treatment began at Moffitt.

Treatment was going well but then in May 2023 he suffered a brain hemorrhage that turned into finding out he had 2 metastasized tumors in the brain. One on the left temporal lobe and one on the right. A week after they found that he was in stage 4 Melanoma, he under went his first brain surgery. The surgery was successful and they were able to remove the tumor. Because of the location of the tumor he lost the ability to speak at the time and had aphasia.

Shortly after that surgery after a short trip home after being discharged, Jason developed an infection where they went in for a second surgery and put drains in. The drains started doing what they needed to but the infection kept getting worse. A third surgery was completed and this time a part of Jason’s skull was removed because the infection was on the skull.

After this third surgery Jason began to show improvements and was able to fight the infection. He was able to go home and was doing well. He began to meet with the cancer center to discuss the plans for the right temporal lobe tumor. A plan was formed and he would under go radiation. In July, Jason had about a week of radiation of treatment.

In August 2023, Jason began to go into liver failure due to the immunotherapy for the cancer. The cancer treatment was put on hold at that point in order to save his liver. They were back to square one on how to treat the cancer.

After being discharged from the hospital for the liver failure, Jason was back in the hospital with signs of a brain bleed a few days after arriving home. This brain bleed ended up being from the tumor on the right temporal lobe. This was the tumor that was treated with radiation. This showed the radiation did nothing for the tumor.

Jason then had his fourth surgery to remove the tumor. The recovery from this surgery was a lot more than the first tumor removal. Jason had to learn how to be himself and who people were again. He was in the ICU for a little while due extreme confusion and inability to execute basic functions and needed constant care and supervision. He eventually moved down to the Nuero Step Down Unit and then finally to inpatient rehab.

While in rehab, Jason was doing great and was learning how to do everyday tasks again. He was in inpatient rehab for a week and was discharged home on September 20, 2023.

On September 21, after being home for only 18 hours, Jason was back in the ER. He was exhibiting signs of hydrocephalus and something needed to happen. He was transferred back to the hospital in Orlando and a shunt surgery, his fifth surgery, was planned for the following Monday.

The surgery went well and the shunt installed began to drain the hydrocephalus and he started to recover. He started improving until he wasn’t improving and declining again. Something wasn’t right and the doctors couldn’t find the answer.

He continued to exhibit the same symptoms prior to the shunt placement causing more cognitive and physical decline. With his weight rapidly decreasing the doctors had to place a feeding tube in him to counteract the negative effects of malnutrition. He then developed a high fever that didn't have any intention of normalizing even with medicine and various cooling methods. Following suit, his blood pressure began to spike, followed by his respiratory and heart rate. Multiple blood cultures were drawn, various tests and scans were done, but they continued to yield nothing. Even his white blood count was within the normal range.

Then on October 2, we had our answer that Jason was suffering from a bacterial infection housed within his cerebral spinal fluid. The doctors opted for an emergency surgery to remove the compromised shunt from his head and place an EV drain there instead to drain his CSF while the antibiotics could try to work and clear the infection. For those of you keeping count, this is his 6th brain surgery since May.

With that said, Jason is struggling immensely to comeback to us since this last operation. He is still on a ventilator from surgery as he is unable to follow commands. He keeps his eyes opened for just a few minutes throughout the day, but otherwise remains unresponsive. He will be in ICU for awhile and the doctors are doing what they can to keep him comfortable.

As of October 6, 2023, Jason’s health continues to deteriorate.

Jason has a wife, Mindy, and 2 children ages 8 and 10 along with 2 puppies, chickens, rabbits, a hedgehog, and a hamster.

This has taken a toll on him, his family, and friends. The money raised in the fundraiser will be used to pay the families bills along with any necessary medical bills. Since he is in a hospital that is over an hour from home, the funds will also be used to help pay for gas.

Thank you to everyone that will give to this fund. It means the world.