Support Noah's Fight Against Brain Cancer

Many if not all of you know one of my best and longest friends Shea. She’s been a huge part of my life for the last 20 or so years and she’s been here for me through all the curveballs life has thrown me. This year, she’s had some thrown at her. Earlier this year, she lost her dad. At 25, she was left trying to manage finances, hospital visits, hospice care and funeral arrangements-all as an only child, also trying to manage the overwhelming grief and sadness. If you know Shea-you know that her rock is her partner Noah. If you know Noah-ya love him. It didn’t take long for me to know they were great for each other. His light hearted, funny easy going personality is easy to love. He’s a go with the flow, hard working, blue collar man who loves the hell out of my friend Shea. Noah is an amazing dog (and cat) dad, godfather to his nephew, loving son and DIE HARD BILLS FAN. They are a perfect pair, have done nothing but make eachother happy and grown so much together over the last few years. She found her person❤️

On April 7th, both of their lives changed drastically. On a one in a million sunny day in southern N.Y., Noah started speaking gibberish, collapsed outside, started seizing and lost consciousness. Shea acted quickly and immediately called 911 and took an ambulance to hospital in Chemung. Shea & Noah’s family knew Strong Memorial would be better equipped and was transported back to Rochester to receive care through U of R. After CTs, MRIs, and blood work the unthinkable was discovered. Noah had a large tumor in the left temporal lobe of his brain causing the seizure and impacting his speech. Next step was…you guessed it. Brain surgery. On April 28th, Noah was admitted into a 6 hour long surgery, with 3 of those hours, AWAKE. The doctor was able to remove 90% of the tumor. Naturally, Noah took the surgery like a champ, went home a few days later and enjoyed life the best he could while anxiously awaiting pathology results. Then came the results. On May 14th-with Shea and his parents, his oncologist told him he has aggressive Grade 3 astrocytoma-a high-grade aggressive tumor that isn’t curable but treatable. Not what any of us wanted. As of now, the plan is 6 weeks of targeted radiation and 1 year of chemotherapy.

So what does all this mean? First-this is an extremely overwhelming and harrowing diagnosis for anyone to comprehend, let alone a 27 year old. He is reamaining optimistic and positive that due to his age, he can fight this like a boss. However, after having a seizure he cannot work or drive for at least 6 months. Noah is a welder and “working from home” isn’t an option. He is hopeful that he will be able to work again, there is just no “when” yet. The foreseeable future will be full of oncology appointments, CT scans, MRIs, bloodwork, chemo, radiation and a whole lot of back and fourth from Rochester. Not only will Noah be out of work, but Shea will also not be working as much to drive Noah and be by his side (where she should be). NYS’s disability pay is mediocre at best, not leaving much room to function, let alone ENJOY LIFE. Shea and Noah need to be able to focus on smooth treatments, feeling healthy, HAVING FUN when they can, and enjoying every minute when they’re not at appointments. Stress is inevitable but financial stress and strain does not aid in a positive mindset for either of them. Healing starts with mentality. The looming fear of finances is a burden far too many have to worry about, so taking some of the edge off would be invaluable.

This is not easy for anyone, and it isn’t going to be easy for them. This is not what any of us hoped the prognosis would be, and it’s everyone’s worst fear. We’re all optimistic and prepared to fight. Please consider helping two of the best people out during this time-anything and everything is GREATLY appreciated and will not go unnoticed. Noah is going to fight HARD, but they need to be able to do it without worrying about bills, gas money or the price of eggs for that matter. We don’t know what the future holds, but we know there is one and Noah, Shea, his friends and family deserve to enjoy every bit of it.

With Love and thanks,

Leecy