Support for Darrell & Teri

On September 14,2014 the morning was spent as normal. As a family Teri, Darrell and Christian Simon got up and went to church together! While at church Darrell needed a tissue and got up to get one, by the time he made it to the restroom he was dizzy and not feeling well. Thankfully Christian was there and Teri wasn't far behind, Darrell collapsed and took time to come to. Rather than waiting on the ambulance Teri and Christian immediately loaded Darrell in the van and drove a few blocks to the Celebration Hospital. Once they arrived within 47 min he was moved via helicopter to Florida Hospital South where he would immediately undergo surgery.  With the CT scan that was done at Celebration, it was determined he had a mass in the back of his head that was bleeding that needed to be removed.  Teri and Christian drove in the van to Florida South Hopital to be there when Darrell got out of surgery. The mass that was removed was sent to pathology, since he has had a history of melanoma cancer. On Wednesday the 17th, Darrell was diagnosed with malignant melanoma of the brain.  From that point they completed another CT scan and found a 1cm lesion and 4mm lesion.  On Friday the 19th of September he had another aurgery in hopes to remove both lesions, unfortunately the 1cm was too far into the brain for access, but did remove the 4mm with sucess. Darrell spent 28days in ICU with long days and nights for him and Teri! Most recently Darrell was moved to Acute Physical Therapy floor and was offered a procedure called Gamaknife for his 1cm lesion.
On October 24th the Gamaknife procedure was scheduled and a CT Scan was to be completed prior to the procedure to get a map of where the lesions were located. When the did the CT scan they found that the 1cm had grown to 4cm and there was also a new lesion that was 7mm, they were able to use the Gamaknife procedure on the 7mm but the 4cm was too large. The doctors discussed options, and it is scheduled that he has fractional radiation on the 4cm beginning Wednesday the 29th of October and will have a 5day consecutive treatment (with the exception of Saturday and Sunday). The doctor will the re access the lesions to see what the progress is. 

With all of this being said, Teri nor Darrell have been able to work since September 14th. Darrell did have some time saved up for paid vacation and short term disability thankfully, but it is running out quickly. This journey of Darrell's illness has just begun and has no end date as of now. The doctors aren't sure of a projected date for Darrell's return to work, and once he is home someone will have to be with him 24hrs a day. Teri won't be able to return to work since their insurance doesn't cover in home care for Darrell. We have started the Gofundme account to help Teri and Darrell be able to pay their basic needs through this journey. Their faith in God is strong and they know everything is his will!