My father was recently diagnosed with GlioBlastoma Multiforme (GBM) which is an aggressively malignant stage IV brain cancer. The difficultly with this disease is that it is both incredibly deadly and it causes dramatic personality shifts, which puts an inordinate amount of stress and pain upon family members and caregivers. We desperately need as much help as we can get to try to fight this cancer and to give my father the best quality of life possible for whatever time he may have left.

In March of 2020, my father’s character began to drastically change. He had always been a very happy and joyful soul but he had suddenly become extraordinarily depressed. He was unable to formulate words or thoughts in his mind and was having extreme difficulty communicating at all with his family and friends. We sat at the dinner table, one night, trying to have a conversation with him, because he has always loved talking with his family, and he simply could not formulate a sentence within his mind. The next day he insisted on going to work and so we drove him there. Once at work, his depression was so great the company called an ambulance to be rushed to the nearest ER immediately. After several MRIs the doctors discovered a tumor about the size of a golf ball (around 5x4 cm) lodged in his left frontal lobe.

We went forward with the surgery and they were able to successfully remove the tumor and send it off to a lab to develop a pathology report. He was back home after a week and several of his symptoms prior to the surgery seemed to have vanished. About a week later, we received a call from an oncologist regarding the nature of the tumor, how it was an incredibly malignant tumor known as GBM that has an average life expectancy of 12-14 months. As a family we were shocked and absolutely heart broken at this news and decided to start exploring his options regarding treatment and quality of life. His first Oncologist was extremely unhelpful in every way possible, not explaining the pros and cons of treatment and practically throwing him away when we were unsure as to if we wanted to move forward with chemo and radiation therapy. So we were thrust into Limbo, with no medical help whatsoever, no one to explain what to expect or help us through this already trying and miserable time.

Thankfully we were able to contact a new Neurologist and Oncologist, who were extremely helpful. We were introduced to a chemo-therapy that could stop the swelling of his brain. We need as much financial help as we can get to be able to pay for continuing health-insurance and any other medical bills to try to calm him down, so we can spend his final days as a family in peace without fearing for our well-being. My father obviously can no longer work and my mother has had to quit teaching piano because being a caregiver is a full time job. Even with the help of his mother and sister, we don’t have any time to be able to work. Thank you so much for reading, and if you could donate and/or also share this I would appreciate it so much.