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Benjamin Mack's Battle with Cancer

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In October 2017, Ben started having pain in his lower back. Ben, being stubborn as he is, ignored it for as long as he could before finally he was in so much pain that he had to go to the ER. While the doctors at the Emergency room thought that it might be kidney stones that were lodged somewhere, they could not find any on the CT scan and sent him home with some pain meds and instructions to follow up with his doctor. Ben, with pain pills in hand, returned to work the following day, determined not to miss any work. After 2 weeks the pain got too much even with the pills so he reluctantly went in to see the doctor. Over the next few weeks, Ben was in the doctor's office or at the hospital getting tests done at least 3 times per week. After the doctor still could not determine what was causing all the pain, he sent Ben's CT scan over to a surgeon at the hospital to have a look at it.

Ben met with the surgeon on December 18, 2017. The surgeon informed him that he is pretty sure that he had cancer but did not know what kind and scheduled a lymph node biopsy. The followup appointment was December 22, 2017 at which Ben was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and set up an appointment with an oncologist.

Ben met with the Oncologist on January 4th, 2018 and was told that he needed to start chemo as soon as possible. The doctor thought it was stage 3 but needed to schedule some tests to determine the stage for sure. Ben had 5 more doctors' visits before chemo started on January 16, 2018. At the first chemo session, Ben found out that he does in fact have Stage 4 as the lymphoma is both above and below the diaphragm and has spread to his kidneys, spleen, lungs, and to the bone marrow in his pelvis, spine, and ribs. The good news is that the Oncologist does believe that there is still a better than 50% chance at recovery.

Ben has already undergone 4 of his estimated 12 chemo sessions. Ben is not able to move around much anymore do to the pain in his pelvis, spine, and groin area (these are the areas that affect him the worst). This is on top of the chemo side effects which have been lasting 3 to 4 days after each treatment.

Ben is strong willed and tries his hardest to put up a good front so that his family and friends do not see him suffering. He really hates asking for help, but at this point he has no other options as he is determined to beat this and is really struggling financially. Ben has been off work since the middle of November 2017. He did not have any disability insurance and does therefore not have any income right now. He has filed for disability through the government but has yet to hear back from them.

Any donation that you can give will help Ben with medical and day to day expenses.If you would to make a non-monetary donation please reach out to Ben's brother Kristopher through here. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $50 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer

Kristopher Mack
Organizer
Madison, WI

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