Cory's Colorectal Cancer Fund

My name is Cory Stephens. I am 49 years old, a father, a husband, a follower of Christ, and a hard-working blue collar American. Before this fall, you would find me spending the majority of my time outside, laying concrete with my brother, lifting at the gym, and spending quality time with our four kids. Sundays were saved for worship at our church and meal prepping to dominate the week with our tribe. It never crossed my mind that Sundays would also become the day my chemo pump is removed following an infusion cycle for Stage IV Colorectal Cancer. Colonoscopy screenings are recommended by doctors to begin at age 45. If there’s one thing taken from sharing my story, I hope it is to screen earlier. According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly half of early-onset colorectal cancers are diagnosed in people UNDER the age of 45 years old, for whom screening is not routinely recommended.

My “symptoms” started mid October with some gas, bloating and a feeling that I just couldn’t empty my bowels all the way. There were no other indications something this severe was occurring. Six weeks later, I was diagnosed with Stage IV Colon Cancer. It took a couple of weeks to get in for a colonoscopy, which revealed a mass on my sigmoid colon. Biopsies were taken and adenocarcinoma was found to be present. Following this, a CT scan and MRI was recommended. Up to this point, I hadn’t needed health insurance. I prioritize my health and fitness, so the doctor and I don’t see each other often. Naturally, upon receiving this news, health insurance was at the top of my mind. I was scheduled for an Exploratory Laparoscopy Procedure that following week where Avera’s team would explore the tumor present on my colon and see just how far the cancer had spread. As we scrambled to find insurance to cover this all, we received the uninsured projection invoice of this procedure at $295,000. Due to cost, and health insurance coverage not starting until January 1st, we communicated with the oncology and surgical team in hopes we would be ok to hold off on this until then. Unfortunately, the next day, I ended up in the ER with a bowel obstruction and left kidney failure. An NG (nasogastric) tube was inserted to assist with the obstruction and emergency surgery was performed to have Double J Stents placed. During the exploratory procedure, the surgeon confirmed our worst fears; the cancer had spread to my small intestine and peritoneum. It was at that point, the surgeon felt removal of the tumors was not possible, and the port to begin chemo was placed. My regime would be an aggressive FOLFOX bi-weekly chemo-infusion treatment for 6-8 months. These past four weeks of unplanned chaos have put immense pressure on myself and our family to accommodate for the medical bills that accumulated during that time. How one month of uninsured medical care could reach over $950K is a weight I never thought myself or our family would ever have to carry. We are looking into every avenue possible to decrease this amount including: Avera billing options (which are very limited), state and county assistance for those undergoing chemo treatment, fundraising, grants, and more. Any amount of support, monetary or not, is appreciated more than you know as this is going to be a long and difficult journey for myself and our family. I would love nothing more than to give back by continuing to share my story, urge you all to do preventative screening and focus purely and solely on fighting this to #kickingcancersass.