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Hi everyone. Ellis is my uncle and one of the kindest, most gentle souls you’ll ever know. He has spent his entire adult life working as a millwright for Graphic Packaging, formerly Georgia Kraft and caring for his family-his wife of over 3 decades-Tyrita (to me, she is “Aunt Rita”) and his son- Cody, a United States Marine Corps veteran.
Ellis has always been a huge part of my life. Most of my childhood memories involve him in some way or another. When my own father passed away from cancer when
I was a teenager, it was Uncle Ellis who walked me down the aisle at my wedding several years later. I never even considered another person giving me away.
In early summer of this year, Ellis felt a lump in his neck. As most of us would, he took a wait and see approach for a few weeks to see if it would resolve in its own. When it continued to enlarge and was clear it wasn’t going away, he saw his family doctor who referred him to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist and ordered a CT scan of his neck.
The ENT did a needle aspiration of the mass and was able to pull of a large amount of fluid for testing. We were all optimistic that the fluid likely meant it was just a benign cyst and not a solid tumor. When the pathology results retuned, we were informed that it was not a cyst but squamous cell carcinoma-a type of head and neck cancer formed from the cells that line the mucous membranes of the mouth, throat, respiratory, and digestive tract.
To make matters worse, Ellis suffered an extremely severe case of Covid 19 while awaiting evaluation of the lump in his neck. He was bed ridden for about 3 weeks and quite honestly is fortunate to be here. With the Covid infection and cancer diagnosis, Ellis has been unable to work since July of this year. My Aunt Rita is only working intermittently on days when Ellis doesn’t have treatment or is feeling well enough to be home by himself. As you can imagine, that puts a strain on even the most financially sound individuals.
Ellis is currently undergoing aggressive chemo and radiation to combat the cancer. As you can imagine, radiation to the area near the throat makes for very painful and difficult eating, drinking, and swallowing. To be proactive, he has a feeding tube ( g-button) to supplement his nutrition as needed. Currently he is feeling the effects of the treatment pretty badly with weight loss, nausea, low blood pressure, low blood counts, and burns/pain in and around his neck/throat area.
I decided to start this fundraiser as I have had many people ask how they can help in a meaningful way. I am hopeful this could help offset some of the almost daily insurance copays, travel costs to and from treatment, and just overall lighten the load financially that one must bear with they fall ill. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Kristen Kennedy
Ellis Hammock’s niece
Ellis has always been a huge part of my life. Most of my childhood memories involve him in some way or another. When my own father passed away from cancer when
I was a teenager, it was Uncle Ellis who walked me down the aisle at my wedding several years later. I never even considered another person giving me away.
In early summer of this year, Ellis felt a lump in his neck. As most of us would, he took a wait and see approach for a few weeks to see if it would resolve in its own. When it continued to enlarge and was clear it wasn’t going away, he saw his family doctor who referred him to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist and ordered a CT scan of his neck.
The ENT did a needle aspiration of the mass and was able to pull of a large amount of fluid for testing. We were all optimistic that the fluid likely meant it was just a benign cyst and not a solid tumor. When the pathology results retuned, we were informed that it was not a cyst but squamous cell carcinoma-a type of head and neck cancer formed from the cells that line the mucous membranes of the mouth, throat, respiratory, and digestive tract.
To make matters worse, Ellis suffered an extremely severe case of Covid 19 while awaiting evaluation of the lump in his neck. He was bed ridden for about 3 weeks and quite honestly is fortunate to be here. With the Covid infection and cancer diagnosis, Ellis has been unable to work since July of this year. My Aunt Rita is only working intermittently on days when Ellis doesn’t have treatment or is feeling well enough to be home by himself. As you can imagine, that puts a strain on even the most financially sound individuals.
Ellis is currently undergoing aggressive chemo and radiation to combat the cancer. As you can imagine, radiation to the area near the throat makes for very painful and difficult eating, drinking, and swallowing. To be proactive, he has a feeding tube ( g-button) to supplement his nutrition as needed. Currently he is feeling the effects of the treatment pretty badly with weight loss, nausea, low blood pressure, low blood counts, and burns/pain in and around his neck/throat area.
I decided to start this fundraiser as I have had many people ask how they can help in a meaningful way. I am hopeful this could help offset some of the almost daily insurance copays, travel costs to and from treatment, and just overall lighten the load financially that one must bear with they fall ill. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Kristen Kennedy
Ellis Hammock’s niece