Ben Ide was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 3A in July 2022 by the time he was diagnosed he was already in stage 4. He went through 6 round of chemotherapy his last being December 23, 2023 they did a pet scan on January 3 telling him the cancer was gone. We took Ben on a 2 week vacation to Galveston island to celebrate. March 2023 he had a follow up CT where they discovered a lump on his neck and another under his arm pit they watched it carefully over the next 3 mths until his next scan in June where they seen it had grown over 1.5 cm again they told us they would watch it we went back in August and it had grown to 2.5 cm by this time Ben was having fatigue, terrible night sweats and pain in his back and abdomen but the dr. Said they needed it to get to 3 cm before they could start treatment to get as many cancerous cells as possible. They scheduled the next scan for October 31st by the end of September he was only able to work 3 days a week due to pain and fatigue we called the dr to get a scan soon because he notice a lump on his groin and the pain was unbearable, We went to the drs beginning of October where they gave him another CT scan where they realized the cancer had grown to 4.5 cm and the one on his groin was 6.5 they gave him steroids and pain meds and set him up for a pet scan the following week they also gave us 2 treatment options a low grade chemotherapy or/and trial called CAR-T which he had to decide by his pet scan. The day of his scan he was admitted into the hospital due to pain and vomiting the dr told us in his pet scan they found that his whole abdomen is full of cancer and it’s putting pressure on his organ that’s where the pain is coming from and his cancer grade went from A the slow growing non aggressive to B the fast growing aggressive kind and his is back in stage 4. They told him the CAR-T is no longer on the table and he would have to start intensive Chemotherapy or it could possibly take his life. Ben had moved in with us when he found out he had cancer the first time and when he got the all clear he moved into his new place he was so excited and doing so well now he is worried about saving his life and his home. Not something a 23 yr old kid should be worrying about….. any and everything donated is insanely appreciated, you have no idea.

(paragraph written by Bens Mother, Nickia Furman)