Hello, if you're here, you may already know Jason's story. If you don't, let's fill you in.
This past fall Jason found a lump in his clavicle area. We brushed it off, thinking it was probably a cyst. It did not hurt, so it was easy to put off going to the doctor. By December we realized it had grown significantly. He ended up going to Urgent Care in early January and we found out that what we thought might be a cyst was actually an enlarged lymph node. This appointment at Urgent Care ended up being an unexpected journey of countless medical appointments throughout January. Two CT scans and a PET scan showed that Jason had enlarged lymph nodes on the left side of his neck, in his chest, arm pit and around his heart. In February Jason had two surgeries where he ended up having 6 lymph nodes removed from his neck and clavicle area.
On March 4th, 2025, Jason was officially diagnosed with Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma Stage 2a-unfavorable. We have learned more than we ever expected to know about lymphoma over the last few weeks. We now know that Hodgkin's Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer. Although Hodgkin's has a higher survival rate (roughly 85-90%) than most other cancers and is often referred to as, "a good cancer" (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean), Jason was informed that his survival statistic is currently 70%. This is where the 'unfavorable' piece comes in. Due to the size (largest is 8cmx6cm), location, and amount of tumors found during his scans, Jason's prognosis is worse than typical. However, these are just statistics and we refuse to view Jason as a statistic. We are feeling hopeful and positive that due to his overall good physical health and his young age, Jason will be with us for decades to come.
It was decided by our Oncology team (shout out to Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Dr. B!) that Jason will undergo a very intense Chemotherapy schedule for the next six months. Due to the progressive and aggressive nature of Jason's tumors, it is thought best to throw everything we can at it and hope for the best.
The foreseeable future will be very hard. Not only for Jason and I, but for our three beautiful young children: Julian, Leila, and Oliver. Life, marriage, and parenthood never prepare you for the day that you have to tell your kids that Daddy has cancer. It's one of the hardest things we have ever prepared ourselves for and we hope that no family ever has to go through that. The look on their faces and their reactions to the news was as imagined—worry, fear, sadness, and any other word you could think of to describe a kid's world being turned upside down.
The unexpected burden, stress, and time away from life have been difficult, to say the absolute least. Days of worry, crying, and heartache have been plentiful. Sadly, the hard part has yet to begin! Time away from work (for both Jason and I) during chemo, ongoing medical costs, endless paperwork, and the overall dread of this horrible thing called cancer will undoubtedly take a toll on us (it already has).
Asking for help is something that doesn't come easy for us. However, this is what we're doing. We are concerned and worried about the financial impact that the loss of work will have on our family over the next six months. Any and all donations to this GoFundMe will truly make a difference. Although there is a timeline for the current Chemo treatments, there is no timeline for when this horrible journey will end.
Love,
Jason, Keely, Julian, Leila, and Oliver
