Our dear friend Carey Smith, isn't doing so well.   A few weeks ago Carey, sought medical attention when he had trouble swallowing and felt a lump in his throat.  

 

Carey got medical images, however the person reading the images did not see the obvious tumors around his neck. He knew something was wrong and consulted his Primary Care Physician, who reevaluated the images. Doc gave Carey, the sad news that he had cancer.

A few weeks and more medical images later, we learned that the cancer spread to other parts of Carey's body. The good news is that with modern medicine, this cancer can be cured! Five years earlier and this would have been classified as Stage 3 and a death sentence.

To cure this cancer, he must go through oral surgery to remove all of his teeth so the radiation won't kill his jaw bone marrow and cause more problems.  

 

After his prep cancer treatment operation(s), he must endure seven weeks of high intensity CHEMO AND RADIATION therapy. His sessions will consist of one session a day, five days a week, for seven weeks, at twenty minutes per session.

Carey was advised that he is not a candidate for surgery because it will cause too much damage and he will lose the ability to speak.

 

These sessions will cause horrific pain to Carey, so he will be heavily drugged and unable to work. Severe pain, fatigue, 3rd degree blisters burns on his neck and face and weight loss are just a few things he will endure. He will have to keep is chemo port extremely clean and be cautious about everything around him, as any illness or infection can kill him. 

 

If everything goes 100% perfectly, we can expect recovery after 7 months. Realistically, we are expecting the treatment and recovery time will take between 12 and 14 months before he can return to work.

 

The good news is that the cancer is curable but the treatment isn't forgiving to Carey or his family. This treatment will be devastating both psychically and financially.

 

Carey is a disabled Navy Veteran, former Corrections Officer, and worked at the Harley-Davidson Plant before being laid off, years short of retirement, when they moved the plant to Mexico. We got the better end of the stick because Carey began to work with us at VT-SGI, and has become our family.

It has become too common for us to make the decision between life and death because the treatment would be too financially devastating to us and our loved ones. We shouldn't have to make decision between losing everything that we worked hard for or cancer treatment...i.e. life.

 

We are here for the Smith family. Family takes care of family. Let's help out the Smith family during these rough times. Insurance won't help much and our company won't pay him anything after he had depleted his PTO and vacation time. Our company won't pqy him while he is on FMLA. 

Money collected will go directly to Carey and his wife so they can continue to pay his mortgage, bills and to help put food on their table.  

 

Let's be their light in these dark times and take this worry and burden off of their shoulders...they have enough to worry about.

 

Please consider donating for our family and friend. Every penny and every dollar help.

 

Thank you for reading and thanks for caring.