Donate to Erik's Cancer Recovery Fund

UPDATE: The urology clinic called to let me know that there's a pre-payment that has to be made a week before the procedures. I wish they would've told me much further in advance instead of three business days but, because of your generosity, we are able to get that knocked out in time. Thank you!

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It was hard to tell my family that I was diagnosed with cancer. It's even harder for me to say "We need your help". I've always been one of those "I can handle it myself" types. I don't know why. It drives my wife, Pamela, up the wall, but I'm at a point that I have to admit it. We need help and cannot do this on our own. I've got surgery coming up and I'll be unable to work for several weeks. I just got a new job and I'm hoping I'll still have it when I'm able to go back to work. Everything you donate will go to help keep us afloat. We just have to get this bridge crossed.

I'm scheduled for surgery on July 7th. I'll be having two procedures, one on each side, one after the other. Why two procedures on each side of my body? Read "The much longer version..." for a more detailed story.

And thank you!

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The much longer version...

In January, the company where I was the Marketing department added the tasks of quality checking import product and shipping/receiving to my job description. This went on for ten weeks. Instead of sitting at a desk all day, I was now lifting and moving 100-150 pound product, pulling the import products apart for inspection and repair, and I was losing one pound a week doing it. So, ten weeks, ten pounds. A pound a week is totally normal. And then the plant closed and I'm unemployed.

Two weeks after that, I started experiencing an increased heart rate (tachycardia), hand tremors, some breathing issues, and I'm noticing that I'm much more exhausted and sleeping even less well than I was before. Plus, I continued to lose weight and I wasn't moving near as much, yet in eight weeks, I lost 24 pounds. I figured it was just stress and anxiety from being unemployed with bills to pay and I don't want to have my jeep picked up by a flatbed wrecker.

Three months after the plant closed, I'm playing a gig with one of my bands (I'm a bassist and singer) and I almost collapsed on stage in the first set. I ended up napping between sets in the green room. The next day, my wife took me to the ER to get checked out. The doctor's first concerns were my heart and lungs, so they did a X-ray, EKG and a CT scan. My heart? Clean, working fine. Same with my lungs, no issues there.

But the scan noted growths at the bottom of the frame, one of which was over 6cm, so they sent me to a urologist. The urologist tells me that I have a pheochromocytoma on my right adrenal gland. A pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor that forms in the adrenal gland and it can release excessive amounts of adrenaline and other hormones. These hormones can significantly impact blood pressure, heart rate, and other bodily functions, leading to various symptoms according to Yale Medicine. I'm getting a steady stream of adrenaline. Imagine feeling your skin crawl 24 hours a day. It's a lot like that.

If not for that pheochromocytoma causing problems and sending me to the ER, we wouldn't know about the renal cell carcinoma on my left kidney. The CT said it was 6cm? That's because it was at the bottom of the scan. The MRI shows it be much larger. Try 14.6 x 11.2 x 11.4cm! It's scary to think that, if not for the adrenal symptoms, I probably wouldn't know about the one on my kidney until much later. That would be very bad.

Like I said (wrote, really), I just started a new job but now I've gotta go under the knife. I'll be unable to work for a few weeks (it can vary depending on how my body heals) and that's money lost. Unemployment maxed out my credit cards, so it's extremely tight over here. Anything you can donate will help us keep going so I can literally get back on my feet.

Thank you in advance. Enjoy every sandwich! - Erik