Help Jim Fight Cancer - Let's Live

Jim and his wife (my mom, Roxanne) were sitting in the cancer ward in Chapel Hill, NC. Jim hadn’t felt well for about 6 weeks prior and had undergone endless tests the past 4 weeks. An MRI had revealed a mass on Jim’s liver, and a biopsy was scheduled. After returning home from the procedure, he began to have chest pains and while looking for the cause, a CT scan at the emergency room revealed more masses. After waiting a week for the full results of the biopsy and scans, the clock had finally struck 8:00am Monday morning. That meant Jim and my mom, who had been on this roller coaster for 3 weeks straight, were finally going to hear his full diagnosis. The team of doctors surrounded the table. They looked at Jim and what was said was everything our entire family feared and never expected.

 

Jim was officially diagnosed with Stage 4 terminal Bile Duct Cancer with multiple metastases on Monday, Sept 27th. As a healthy 44 year old, this has all come as a devastating shock to our family and friends. Jim is a hard working husband, son, brother, uncle, and father. Jim joined my family 11 years ago when he married my mother, and has given our family unconditional love and support. We need him in our lives as long as God's willing. The big things right now are out of our control so we are going to focus on our relationships in life that we love and cherish.

 

As the selfless person that Jim is, he is more worried about the family he will potentially leave behind. We are hoping to raise money to assist Jim with the financial burdens of a terminal illness, and the means to live his life as long and normal as possible. Jim has gone from working full time and supporting his family to fighting cancer full time. Anything you can donate will be truly appreciated. Everything we can do to help and surround Jim with love and support is what is most important so he can continue to appreciate all of the good things in his life.

 

From Jim - “I feel extremely strong mentally and I still feel very good physically. I am going to fight this with everything I have. I want you all to know how much your love and support means to me.”

 

Updates:

Jim had spinal surgery on 10/4/21 to remove some tumors in his neck/spine and place plates and screws to reinforce his spine where a tumor was beginning to compromise his spinal cord, placing him at risk of paralysis. The objective was to strengthen the spine so that it’s safe to begin radiation and chemotherapy treatments. As of 10/5/21 the surgery was successful in giving him a chance at as much time with us as possible, he remains at UNC to recover.