Save Caleb's Brain
Donation protected
Hey everyone, it's Caleb.
On Tuesday, August 18, 2015, my wife Laura found me in bed having a seizure. She wasn't able to wake me, and she called 911. As I put it, "I woke up with several strange men in my bedroom." A trip to the emergency room, several scans, tests, and probes later, it was discovered that I had a lesion on my brain. After further scans, a biopsy, and more tests later, it was found that the lesion was a Grade II - Diffuse Astrocytoma - a slow growing cancer of the brain.
Laura and I have been back forth with doctors, specialists, and neurosurgeons, going to Knoxville and Duke to find the best treatment options. After much discussion, the best treatment option posed has been Proton therapy. Proton therapy vs traditional radiation, has a safer effect on sensitive areas of the body, such as the brain, and causes less damage to the cells around the cancer.
Over the past few months leading up to finding the best treatment option, Laura and I both have been out of work for several days at a time, started accumulating medical bills, and we now have the cost of the proton therapy coming up. We've appealed to the insurance company to cover the cost, but our insurance has denied us multiple times. We are continuing to work with insurance, but the process is slow. The medical procedures that the proton therapy clinic suggests is 6 weeks of treatments, 5 days a week. This procedure will cost approximately $75,000.00. I'm hoping to get the treatments started as quickly as possible. We are asking for help to try and offset some of the cost, on top of travel expenses, and other medications that I may need during and after the treatments. We greatly appreaciate all of the love and support that we have already receieved. I will hopefully able to pay it foward one day.
On Tuesday, August 18, 2015, my wife Laura found me in bed having a seizure. She wasn't able to wake me, and she called 911. As I put it, "I woke up with several strange men in my bedroom." A trip to the emergency room, several scans, tests, and probes later, it was discovered that I had a lesion on my brain. After further scans, a biopsy, and more tests later, it was found that the lesion was a Grade II - Diffuse Astrocytoma - a slow growing cancer of the brain.
Laura and I have been back forth with doctors, specialists, and neurosurgeons, going to Knoxville and Duke to find the best treatment options. After much discussion, the best treatment option posed has been Proton therapy. Proton therapy vs traditional radiation, has a safer effect on sensitive areas of the body, such as the brain, and causes less damage to the cells around the cancer.
Over the past few months leading up to finding the best treatment option, Laura and I both have been out of work for several days at a time, started accumulating medical bills, and we now have the cost of the proton therapy coming up. We've appealed to the insurance company to cover the cost, but our insurance has denied us multiple times. We are continuing to work with insurance, but the process is slow. The medical procedures that the proton therapy clinic suggests is 6 weeks of treatments, 5 days a week. This procedure will cost approximately $75,000.00. I'm hoping to get the treatments started as quickly as possible. We are asking for help to try and offset some of the cost, on top of travel expenses, and other medications that I may need during and after the treatments. We greatly appreaciate all of the love and support that we have already receieved. I will hopefully able to pay it foward one day.
Organizer
Caleb Hickman
Organizer
Kingsport, TN