Help Liam Overcome Cancer and Surgery

Hey All and Welcome!

I am here to help my Father-in-law, Liam, raise money to help with bills and unexpected medical & personal expenses due to his failing health, and want to thank his Daughter for help in putting the explanation together.

Liam worked in the ER for over 10 years as an EMT and then got his nursing degree in his 40's. This year marks his 20 year anniversary of becoming a practicing RN. He has spent his life taking care others and will likely not be able to return to the bedside for a while, if ever.

FYI this is a long summary of his struggle over the last 6 months.

Mid-late 2024, Liam's doctor noticed a large lump in his neck and sent him to get imaging. He assumed no news was good news and didn't read the results until several months had passed. He was unaware the ordering provider had retired and the office did not call him with the results. When Liam finally got curious and looked up the results several months had passed. The scans showed he most likely had cancer.

He found a provider to do a biopsy and the cancer diagnosis was confirmed in November 2024, just before Thanksgiving. They discovered he had stage 2 squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, and the original tongue lesion had almost doubled in size before he was able to get treatment for it.

By this time the cancer was zapping all his energy and he went on short-term disability due to his extreme fatigue. In January, he began 7 weeks of chemo/radiation with the primary sites being his tongue and neck. His pain increased as the radiation did its job and he developed lesions on the back of his tongue and throat. As the fatigue increased, he lost weight, slept the days away, and was barely aware of the time passing. He thought getting through the treatment was his last hurdle.

He developed a high fever the week after his treatments were complete. He went to the emergency room and was placed on heavy duty antibiotics. They found he had pneumonia and a septic blood infection that was positive for strep. He had also been complaining of leg pain for a couple weeks. After completing an ultrasound they found a massive clot in his right leg from the bottom of his thigh to his toes in all the main arteries.

They attempted to restore blood flow to his leg and remove the clots on 3/23 and a short, 1-2 hr surgery turned into a 7 hr surgery. The clots kept re-forming as fast as they could pull them out. They also discovered a huge clot that had been forming for a while in his aorta, the origin of the leg clots.

The doctors had no other choice but to suggest amputation on the right leg. Liam was devastated by the news and asked for additional studies and second opinions. Finally, he realized that amputation was the only way to live, and went through with a below the knee amputation and another re-vascularization attempt on 4/2.

He is determined to walk again but the road to getting a prosthetic leg is a long one. And he still has to deal with the aortic clot when he is a little better healed.

We are raising funds to help him get him back on his feet as he transitions to disability and a much lower income. All funds will be transferred directly to his bank account to help him pay bills and not lose his house.

Please, every little bit helps, and thank you so much for your time!!!