Bow’s Big Surgery

In April of 2022 Bow Ekquist was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. He had a 20cm mass nearly obstructing his sigmoid colon, along with multiple cancerous lymph nodes in the surrounding area. Bow spent the rest of 2022 completing over 35 rounds of radiation and 7 rounds of folfirinox, the strongest chemo they can offer for his type of cancer.

In December of 2022 Bow’s cancer was revaluated. His lymph nodes had made a considerable amount of improvement but he still had 14cm of tumor left in his colon. On February 9th of this year Bow will be having surgery at the University of Iowa Hospital to remove the affected portion of his colon and lymph nodes, as well as get a temporary ileostomy while his colon heals. Bow is expected to be in the hospital for 3-7 days, and will need around the clock care and home nursing once he gets back home. There is a small chance that Bow could be cancer-free after this operation, but there is a much larger chance that the surgeon can’t get all the cancer due to its proximity to major blood vessels and Bow will have to do additional rounds of chemo.

My plan is to stay in Iowa while Bow is there and take some time off work to take care of Bow while he is healing. The money will go towards gas, food while we are in Iowa, and food once we get home.

If you would rather donate through Cashapp or Venmo as no fee is taken out of those donations I will list our usernames below. If you would like to send a gas gift card or something like that I will list our address as well.

Venmo: @Kaitlyn-Ekquist

Cashapp: $BowEkquist

1608 E 1st St

Sterling, IL 61081