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Help fund Ger's medical expenses

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Hello all.
I am setting up this fundraising page to help a good friend Ger Tracey pay for his medical expenses. 
With Ger's permission, below is his story. 
Please give what you can. I understand times are hard but every little helps. 

Thank you all.

Ger's Story.


In March 2019, I attended hospital with what I taught was kidney stones.
I was gaining weight very rapidly and was thinking I've a stupid problem or maybe I was retaining fluid.
Too my horror I was called and asked to stay in that they have found a mass in my left sigmoid. There was no kidney stone.
It was a slow growing tumor that was blocking my sigmoid. This is where our food exits the bowel.

I was orderd to take a colonoscopy where they found a very bad tumor that was 6.5cm in size.
Further to that they also said that on the scan after the colonoscopy that they had suspected that there was also what's known in oncology as metastic which means that already, the cancer has spread.
So alot take in, my doctor told me to get my house in order and prepair for the worse.

After me and my wife sat with an oncology team, they told me I was young and very strong but I was barley qualifying for surgey as the margins on the tumors were just about opperable, but I would have a hell of a road and its 50/50 to survive the surgery alone.
We had top health insurance but what they cover wasn't clear. We were told that they only pay for certain procedures.
After panic and hanging in for the go ahead for the surgery to be cleard by the insurance, my first surgery was to remove half of my bowel to take out the primary tumor.


  
During this surgery I also had a portal box inserted in my chest wall. Knowing now that this was for future infusion of medication. So I was on trouble by all standards in medical terms.
Insurance would not pay for radio frequency or Genitic testing of tumors which was crucial to my surgery and was only signed off because we had the means to pay.
If we didn't pay, the insurance win and ur surgery is refused and u die.
No problem for them.

The metastic that had spread to my liver had to be dealt with. In between having chemo and recovering from surgery, I had to pray that I had no more progression other than where they had seen it.
We again managed to make the surgery having a liver resection of 60 % of the right lobe.
My wife was told on day 3 that I probably would not make the night.
Again, surgery was only signed off because we paid for the radio frequency and more Genitic testing.

After another along year of recovery and chemo in December 2020, I had got remission and they said I was even curable going by my 3 monthly scans.
When the cov19 pandemic came, my scan was delayed by a few weeks. When my scan was done, I was called again and told that the cancer was back in the left lobe of my liver.
The liver is the richest organ in blood supply so the cells see this area as delux as my oncologist explained but he said we can also see dots on both lungs and we have to wait and see will they grow.
So a few weeks later the scan showed that they were more nodules. So now I had metastic from liver to lungs and a tumor under my heart and my bowel was clear.

I had another surgery last June to take the tumors from the left lobe and under my heart.
So now the left lobe was clear and it was only the lungs. Again we paid for this surgery that the insurance did not cover.
Known we were running out of money and our sanity, I was called after the Genitic testing and told the only drug that is workn on my tumors is chemo and an immunoterapy but insurance don't pay for this.
When we saw how expensive it was we cried.

After getting on the immunotherapy at a cost of 100k to date in the last 2 years, between testing and surgery's my scan on wednsday showed the immunotherapy has stableised my lungs but again, I have a reocurrance for a third time in my liver.

I've come to far to give up even tho I've had days of hell where I wished it was all over and my wife and daughter didn't have to see this. Between now and December of this year with my surgery to recover the tumor from my liver and immunotherapy is over 50k and that's only medical expenses.
Personal spending and to run a home has all been put on hold.
We were suffering immensely and kept it to ourselves.

This is by no means a short term solution.
This medication is long term and there is no end in sight. So on all levels, we ran out of road but we felt that it would be wrong to ask for help in the beginning when people were telling me I should.

As much as I hate chemo and immunotherapy affects, seeing my Wife, Daughter and Family makes it worth while.
Never giving up.



Thanks everyone for there messages and support.

Ger.

Organizer and beneficiary

Martin Halloran
Organizer
County Limerick
Laura Tracey
Beneficiary

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