Help for Gabriel Caldwell and Family

During a routine dental exam, dentists discovered a lesion on our brother, Gabriel’s, tongue. Unfortunately, a subsequent biopsy revealed it to be a squamous cell carcinoma. On October 10, he had a complex surgery that included both a partial glossectomy and an exploratory neck dissection to remove some lymph nodes and check for metastasis.

Although the surgery went well, Gabe has experienced some unusual complications including a hemorrhage at the excision site and a frayed and imminently rupturing artery - which resulted in an emergency surgery on 10/19. This was an extremely traumatic event: after the tongue hemorrhage, Gabe went to his scheduled follow up and arrived with his JP tube full of frank blood. He began to cough during the visit, and blood began to spurt from the artery, at which point the “life team” was alerted and he was promptly surrounded by an emergency team and taken to surgery. His talented and dedicated medical team are still working on figuring out why this happened, and in the mean time have advised him to stay as close to the hospital as possible once discharged. Preliminary thoughts are that prior chemotherapy treatments from his colorectal cancer could have weakened his tissues permanently and caused delayed and/or complicated healing.

This has, of course, resulted in very large and unexpected expenses- on top of the previously anticipated costs of co-pays, deductibles, home/child/pet care and lost work time.

We are asking for any help from anyone who is able to at this time. Anything and everything helps! And even if you’re not in a position to assist with funds, please keep our beautiful brother and his family in your thoughts and prayers.