Medical expenses for Chuck

This is Stacey Gidney and her husband Chuck and their two small children, Devyn (age 8) and Dominic (age 4). Recently Chuck visited his doctor for hip pain. No one thought anything of it. But to everyone's surprise this was not a typical appointment. After an abnormal x-ray followed by several other different test, Chuck was diagnosed with Stage III High Grade Osteosarcoma. This left Stacey's fellow coworkers devastated. Osteosarcoma is a cancer that affects bone and soft tissue (muscle).  Osteosarcoma is a very rare type of cancer, only affecting 1% of all cancer diagnoses per year.  The tumor is located in his right hip/pelvic bone radiating into his gluteus muscle. It is pretty unique to have this type of cancer at his age 33. 

 The Gidney's went to see the Oncologist, who said Chuck would receive 3 rounds of chemo.  He would have to be in the hospital to receive chemo. He would then have to visit an Orthopedic Oncologist who would perform surgery to remove the tumor in hopes to repair the bone that was affected by the cancer. Once done with surgery, he will start another 3 rounds of chemo.  They have been traveling to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet with an Orthopedic Oncologistat the Huntsman Cancer Institute, which has a special Sarcoma Clinic at the University of Utah. 
Chuck also has Type I Diabetes which means that he has to take insulin shots in order to control his blood sugars.  Having diabetes always complicates medical issues. Undergoing chemo and other drugs associated with chemo, can make his blood sugar run high, which in turn can make him sick, affect his kidneys, and create many other related medical complications.  The major obstacle that Chuck will face once he has the surgery is that diabetics are known not to heal quickly.  Chemo will affect his immune system but having  diabetes on top of it will make healing from his surgery extremely challenging as well as a very slow process. Diabetics are also very prone to having infections.   A possible infection with a Cancer and Diabetes patient is very dangerous.

The combination of Hospital bills, Medication, Travel expenses will become highly expensive, relatively quickly. Fellow coworkers haveset a goal to raise $15,000 to help this wonderful family in this difficult time and also bring some giggles to Devryn and Dominic while we are at it. This is a very scary time for them. We have spoken with fellow Doctors, Physician Assistance, Nurses, Medical Assistants, Clinic staff and Friends who all agreed that once the goal of $15,000 is raised Devryn and Dominic will do the honors  of shaving  the heads of all the volunteers in order to honor Chuck and his battle.  A TOTAL of 13 fellow coworkers and friends  would be honored to do this for such a great cause.

Please join us in this journey to help the Gidney family. Thank you in advance for your kind generosity.