HELP DANIEL WITH CANCER TREATMENT COSTS & BILLS

Hi everyone,

 

I'm Sheila Bishop and I live in Brunswick, GA. Last year, I invited my son's pre-k class to attend his birthday. This is where I first met Daniel, his very pregnant wife, Nikki, and their son, Cash. We hit it off immediately and became quick friends. I honestly don't think I have ever heard another human being laugh so much as Daniel lol. He laughs and smiles constantly! That's just who he is. If you know him, you know exactly what I am talking about lol. A few weeks after my son's birthday party, Nikki and Daniel had their 2nd child, Farrah Rose. I was going to try to keep this shorter than it ended up being, but I think it's important for those that know him to know all of the details. It may be a little long, but please read it. They need our help, love, prayers, and support! This fundraiser is to help them pay for out-of-pocket health insurance ($930 a month), Nikki's travel back and forth to the hospital/appointments, and bills as neither is working. Let me also mention that their landlord raised their rent $500 in the middle of Daniel finding out he has cancer.

 

 

 

 

Daniel relocated from Hopkinsville KY to Brunswick in 2020 to find work. He is a journeyman carpenter by trade, working out of Savannah Carpenter’s hall. In 2021, he moved his family down as well. Nikki works as a hairstylist at Clip and Snip Salon.

 

 

 

 

In late February of this year,2022, Daniel started experiencing some numbness in his right foot and some pain in his right lower back that radiated down his right leg. In mid-March, after much imaging for what he thought was a pinched nerve, Daniel was diagnosed with having a yolk sack tumor in his lower right pelvis. The tumor is completely surrounding his femoral artery, causing restricted circulation in his right leg, and it is crushing his femoral nerve causing severe pain, nerve pain, numbness, and tingling. The tumor is lodged between his hip flexor muscles and extends into his sacrum which has caused a pressure fracture in the base of his spine. All of these things combined have left Daniel with very minimal use of his right leg. There are also several smaller cancerous spots in his lungs and lymph nodes. Daniel had to stop working as a journeyman carpenter in mid March of this year due to pain and mobility issues.

 

 

 

 

The cancer is a rare late reoccurrence of testicular cancer, which Daniel beat in the early 2000’s. Daniel had what he thought was 3 completely unrelated bouts of cancer between 2000 and 2003. He had many surgeries along with chemo and radiation, and he has been cancer free up until this February when the most recent cancer was diagnosed. He has learned since that most likely all of his cancers were reoccurrences of the original testicular cancer. It is common for testicular cancer to reoccur, but it is highly unlikely for it to reoccur past 10 years after the original cancer, it has been almost 20 years for Daniel. His doctors have told him that each reoccurrence becomes more aggressive and harder to treat.

 

 

 

 

Daniel and his wife did not feel that their local hospital was equipped to handle such a specific case, and they were having trouble getting Daniel’s pain levels under control, so they decided to take him to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville in early April where he was admitted through the emergency department. He stayed inpatient at Mayo from April 2nd to April 9th in an effort to get his pain under control and to get all of the imaging and testing done required to make his diagnosis.

 

 

 

 

The Mayo Clinic has since been managing his cancer care and treatments. Since his diagnosis, Daniel has had 2 rounds of TIP Chemotherapy. TIP Chemotherapy is one of the most aggressive chemo treatments available. Daniel is admitted into Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for 5 days each time he has a round of chemo. The chemo is very hard on his body and his immune system. Daniel returned home from his second round of chemo on May 29th. Three and a half days later on June 2nd he was taken to the emergency department in Brunswick because he was spiking a fever. He was immediately admitted and told that he had MRSA and was septic (the MRSA was in his blood stream, he was not in septic shock). He also had pneumonia. He was transferred from Brunswick back to Mayo. While he was in the hospital being treated for MRSA and pneumonia he developed an extremely bad case of hospital delirium which required that they keep him longer than expected. Daniel came home from Mayo on June 15th after a 13 day stay. He was home for just under 24 hours when he spiked a fever again. His oncologist at Mayo advised him to go quickly to the nearest emergency department, so he returned to the hospital in Brunswick. Daniel was immediately readmitted due to a reoccurrence of the MRSA. It was mainly around the area where his port had been removed during his previous hospital stay, but he was also septic again. He was hoping that this would be a short visit, but he has had a few speed bumps along the way. He has quite a bit going on currently; he still has pneumonia, he is required iv antibiotics 2x per day to continue to keep the MRSA away, his kidney function is compromised as they are slowly recovering from his last round of chemo, and the Drs are trying to stabilize his blood counts. All in all Daniel is doing as well as can be expected in his situation.

 

 

 

 

He is beyond ready to be at home, but he understands why it’s important for him to be where he is. His goal is to get past this bump in the road so that he can get all of his imaging and labs done so that he can find out if he will be able to continue with his chemo treatments. His oncologists are uncertain if his cancer is reactive to the chemo, and he will require more testing before he is permitted to resume treatments, he will also have to be free of all infection including the pneumonia. This is all a sort of balancing act and all of the pieces need to be in place in order for him to move to the next step. His Drs, nurses, and entire staff here in Brunswick have been absolutely wonderful to him. They are working very closely with his Drs at Mayo, and all of them are doing everything they can to keep him comfortable, keep his spirits up, and keep him headed in the right direction. His road may be long and winding, but Daniel is very determined and strong.

 

 

 

 

This has been and continues to be a trying journey not only for Daniel, but for his entire family. His wife Nikki has been unable to work a regular schedule as she spends a lot of time traveling to and from the hospital both in Brunswick and in Jacksonville to visit Daniel. Between Dr and hospital visits the amount of paperwork, phone calls, appointment scheduling, and all of the other unexpected things required to care for her husbands needs are overwhelming, and she also has a full time job taking care of both of their children in the evenings when they are not at preschool. She has a limited amount of help from family, Daniel’s 77 year old father is their only family in the Brunswick area. Nikki’s parents have been coming back and forth from Kentucky for several days to a week at a time in an effort to help with the children, and Daniel’s brother from Alaska was also able to be here to help for a time, but he has since exhausted all of his leave time from work.

 

Daniel was the primary provider for his family as Nikki gave up a thriving business to make the move to the Brunswick area and was in the process of rebuilding her clientele after returning back to work from unpaid maternity leave from late October to early December.

 

 

 

 

Since February Daniel was able to collect a very minimal amount of short term disability through the union hall, but that was not even 1/4 of what his average pay would be, and it only paid out for 6 weeks. Daniel was also the insurance carrier for his family.

 

 

 

 

Starting in July THE DEEL FAMILY WILL HAVE TO START PAYING INSURANCE OUT OF POCKET. This is a HUGE EXPENSE for a family that is already on a strained budget. In April of this year, their landlord raised their rent $500 in the middle of finding out Daniels diagnois. Unfortunatly, they could not afford it so they moved out of their home and into Daniel’s father’s home, where they are currently staying, in an attempt to cut back on expenses. Daniel and Nikki have also filled out an application for Daniel to start receiving the social security insurance that he has paid in over his years of working, but we all know how long those government processes can take. Daniel, Nikki, and their families are doing everything in their power to keep this ship afloat, but sometimes it feels as if they are barely keeping their heads above water. They have already talked to the social workers at Mayo and there is currently no funding available for him. Most of those things are grants for specific types of cancer. Nikki is working on an application for some forgiveness or very low payment plans. It’s hard because every doctor, bills separately, same with imaging outpatient therapies and so on.

 

 

They are very grateful for all of the love and support they have been shown from old friends in Daniel’s hometown of Hopkinsville KY and from new friends in the Brunswick area.

 

 

 

 

I just want them to catch a break! They have been through so much in such a little bit of time. Moving to find work, living apart for a while, the transition moving Nikki and their son down, having a new baby, finding out Daniel is sick, having an astronomical rent increase, and more.

 

 

 

 

If there is anything you can do to help this family with 2 small children, PLEASE, PLEASE do so! ANYTHING will help! Let our community surround them in their time of need and shower them with help and love!   I hear the saying sometimes that every dollar helps, and I use to think, no not really.  But it does.  EVERY DOLLAR HELPS. EVERY DOLLAR. That one dollar from one person along with one dollar from another few will help this family not only pay for everyday expenses but also help relieve financial stress and anxiety. SEND UP PRAYERS! I'm calling on all of my prayer warriors! If there is something else you would like to do to help them out, please message me.  We love you DEEL FAMILY! #DANIELDEELSTRONG

I also want to add- Please leave Daniel some encouraging messages or send him a funny text! <3