Help for John during his fight with Cancer

Hello my name is Jesse Smith and I am organizing this fundraiser on behalf of my Uncle John Sullivan. John was diagnosed with Covid on Aug 24th 2021 and admitted to the hospital. He had covid pneumonia followed by bacterial pneumonia, blood clots in both lungs, abscess with infection and collapsed left lung requiring multiple surgeries and chest tubes. He was put on ventilator and not expected to survive. Miraculously, John was able to come off the ventilator and begin the healing process. He was released after a 6 week hospitalization. He began recovery at home for the months of Oct and Nov, and was making good progress, with a hopeful return to work of Jan. 2022.

Then in December 2021 he started getting severe pain in his back and chest and reached out to his local doctors, all of which either couldn’t find or were not interested in finding the cause of this new pain. He got second opinions from MGH in Boston, and after CT scans and MRI's found a soft tissue lesion on his spine, which caused a compression fracture and destruction of his T9 vertebrae which then was impinging on his spinal cord and causing all the pain. John was admitted to MGH and it was determined that he had a rare, incurable Plasma Cell Blood Cancer called Multiple Myeloma. He’s been told it’s manageable with the proper care. On 3/9/22 he had Back Surgery to repair the T9 vertebrae by a procedure called Kyphoplasty.

John has recently completed multiple radiation treatments which has decreased the size of the tumor on his spine and is now beginning his first course of chemotherapy. It has been a very difficult last 7 months for him and his family. He is the sole provider for his family of 5 and without a paycheck the added stress of money during all of this is something I would like to alleviate the best I can.

I spoke with John before I created this and he wanted to send a personal message to everyone who took the time to read about what he’s been going through.

If you know me, you know asking for help is not how I’m built or was raised. But being prideful at a time like this is not the right thing to do. Taking care of my family is, so it is with great reluctance that I’m reaching out to ask for help until I can get back to work. I haven’t received a paycheck since Aug. 24th 2021. My church has been helping as much as they can, and I was able to receive some paid family leave through the contractor that I work for, but that all ended in Jan. 2022. I would truly appreciate any help you could provide, no matter the amount. I’m still having a hard time asking, but I’ve run out of options. My sincerest thanks to each and everyone who is able to help. Our faith in God will get us through this trial and I welcome anyone so inclined to pray for us.

With Sincere Gratitude

John