Hello. My name is Eric Lilley, and this is my story.

Here is the link to my GoFundMe page: https://gofund.me/5cd35ff74

And here is a link for donations without fees: Venmo to @Eric-Lilley-3 the last four numbers of my phone are 8450.

First, the very short version:

In the middle of March of this year, 2025, due to extraneous medical issues (ie. as my cancer and rheumatoid arthritis), I had the unfortunate experience of rupturing the extensor tendons to my pinkie and ring fingers of my left hand. Surgery followed with an expected return to work sometime in September. However, in June I was confronted with debilitating back, neck, and spinal issues which will most likely not be resolved without surgery.

My lack of income since March has resulted in the diminishment of what savings I had. I’ve been barely getting along financially with help from my mom to pay bills. That, however, has been taxing on her financially and me emotionally, and is at a point where it is no longer feasible.

Now, as humiliating as it is, I am asking for help. If there is anything you are able to donate to help me out, it will be very much appreciated.

Thank you!

Eric Lilley

Now, the full version:

In 2017, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid/psoriatic arthritis. My body’s immune system was attacking the fluid in my joints causing pain, swelling and damage. The solution was infusions of medications which suppress the immune system to prevent the symptoms. After ten to fifteen medications trials, there was finally one that really seemed well — for a while. In August of 2021, with the effectiveness waning, my rheumatologist upped the dosage. Unfortunately it was just too much. Three weeks later I began having symptoms from what would turn out to be a rare form of t-cell lymphoma.

The symptoms were severe erythroderma, a condition wherein the cancerous cells attack the sub-dermal layer of skin and cause the epidermis to die and flake off and water retention which limited my ability to control body temperature. At this point my doctors were perplexed as to what this was. However, to lessen symptoms I was put on a huge 60mg daily dose of prednisone (a steroid which reduces inflammation and irritation). To note, 20mg daily is considered a high dose.

It wasn’t until April of 2022 that a diagnosis was arrived at during my visit to City of Hope in Duarte, Southern California. Once the diagnosis was made, my oncologist and dermatologist worked with the oncologists at City of Hope to come up with a treatment plan. It was fairly noninvasive. I would stand naked in a booth and get blasted with UVB radiation three to four days a week. The radiation would target the cancerous sells attacking my dermis and rupture them while not affecting the healthy cells. Once I built my exposure time up to a therapeutic level, it worked very well — until August of 2024.

In early August of 2024, I had my first appointment with a new primary care physician. On the admission symptom form I had checked the boxes for ‘low energy’ and ‘depression’. He recommended a prescription for Lexipro (a common SSRI used for treating depression). Although I told him about my UVB radiation therapy, and asked specifically if it would cause photosensitivity, he told me it wouldn’t and I had nothing to worry about. He was wrong. After it had built up in my system for two weeks or so, I began getting burned. When this happened I took a week and a half off to let my skin recover. Cutting the 11 minute exposure to six minutes, it happened again. Then again, and then again. Now a month and a half had elapsed with virtually no therapy, and my symptoms were coming back.

The remedy was to stop taking Lexipro and begin my 60mg daily dose of prednisone again. As well I began my UVB therapy and slowly worked up to a working exposure time. At the start of December I started tapering off the prednisone. My symptoms were feeing under controlI as I made it down to 35mg daily, until just after Christmas when I had a checkup with my dermatologist. She was glad that the symptoms had waned. However, she was concerned about my still being on a high dose of prednisone and prescribed an antibiotic in order to prevent a case of pneumonia (which is a common side effect of long term prednisone consumption). Again, after a week on the antibiotic my skin became irritated and burned. Thinking it must not be the antibiotic, I waited a week and a half and dropped my exposure down to half. It happened again.

I stopped the antibiotic and again resumed my 60mg daily dose of prednisone. Unbeknownst to me, long term prednisone consumption contributes significantly to blood clots. At the beginning of February, 2025, I began to have the feeling of a cramp in my upper calf. A week later it was excruciation. I went to urgent care and an ultrasound found a deep vein thrombosis (aka. a blood clot). I was prescribed Eliquis - an anticoagulant. Again, I questioned whether this would cause sensitivity to UVB light. And again, “No. Absolutely not”. It absolutely did, and yet again back to prednisone.

Now, in early March of this year, I had the unfortunate experience of rupturing the extensor tendons to my pinkie and ring fingers of my left hand. I had no idea that long term prednisone therapy weakens tendons and connective tissue. The result was that I could not extend them which left them curled up in my palm. Subsequently I had surgery on March 25th to repair the damage. The surgery left my hand useless. A rigid hand and wrist brace needed to be worn for four months in order for the tendons to properly heal. After being allowed to remove the brace and begin therapy, it would be another two to four months before I would be permitted to return to work.

After my tendon rupture but before hand surgery, I traveled to OHSU in Portland, Oregon to meet with the head blood borne cancer oncologist. He looked at my skin damage and instructed me to cease my UVB therapy. In place of it, I was to begin a biweekly treatment of chemotherapy. At that point, I had been ramping up my UVB therapy and had tapered down to 20mg of prednisone. My local oncologist had me hold at the 20mg for the first month of my chemotherapy in order to have an effective baseline from which to evaluate the efficacy of the new therapy. My new chemotherapy treatment began on March 31st.

September was looking like it was going to be my ‘return to work’ month. That dream was squelched in June, however, when I developed crippling pain. The combination of chronic degeneration in two of my lumbar discs, two herniated discs and varying degrees of foraminal stenosis have left me in a state of diminished capacity to walk, let alone return to work. Weekly hand therapy began in June, and with the calendar turning to July back therapy twice a week was added to the schedule.

The range of motion and strength in my hand was improving — until late July. While playing a game of cards with my mother, a slight wrist twist sent an intense burning through my hand and up my arm. Now it was the middle finger which I could no longer straighten and which now requires another hand surgery in October or November. The hand surgery will put my return to work around May or June. That is with the assumption that surgery goes as planned and that somehow my back gets remedied.

At this point, my lack of income since March has resulted in the diminishment of what savings I had available. I’ve been barely getting along financially with help from my mom to pay bills. That, however, has been taxing on her financially and me emotionally, and is at a point where it is no longer feasible. I have tried to paint as accurate of a picture as I could in an attempt to illustrate the complexity of my situation. Now, as humiliating as it is, I am asking for help. If there is anything you are able to donate to help me out, it will be very much appreciated.

Thank you!

Eric Lilley