Hello Everyone,
This is Kristin, Sean’s partner. I never thought that at the age of 31 we’d be having to write something like this. It is incredibly scary and not something anyone should ever be faced with, but we unfortunately are setting this gofundme up to help Sean survive cancer…for the second time.
For those of you who don’t know, Sean began experiencing fairly serious abdominal pain in November of 2021. We took him to the hospital where they determined he was having a Crohn’s flare up. A few weeks later in December, he was once again having pain and we took him back to the hospital. This time, they determined he had a CDIFF infection and was given medication and was let out on New Year’s Eve.
A week later in January 2022, he was still having pain and once again went back to the hospital. The doctors finally decided to give him scans and found that he had a tumor in his colon. He underwent an emergency surgery to remove the tumor and a portion of his colon as well as some lymph nodes, and was scheduled to begin chemotherapy as a precaution to get any other cells that might be hiding.
He began chemo in March of 2022, continuing to work and play shows here and there with the bands he is in. In August of 2022, his chemo finished and he was deemed in remission as no signs of cancer came up on a CT scan. We were thrilled.
Sean had missed out on so many things — we love shows and had bought tickets to see some of our favorites and due to the unpredictability of cancer and chemo, he didn’t get to go to half of them. He wasn’t able to play with our bands most of the time which led to Laura and I doing a lot of duo shows and crying on the way home. We weren’t able to really ride motorcycles for the summer and kept saying “that’s okay, we’ll just do it next year!”
Sean took on his cancer diagnosis with bravery and grace — continuing to work and have a record breaking year with his department as well show up for his friends - because that’s who Sean is.
In October of 2022, he began having some back pain. Figuring it was a pulled muscle, we started using a heating pad and Tylenol for it. Two weeks later, I got concerned it was a kidney infection and highly encouraged him to ask a doctor about it because those could get very serious very quickly. He talked to his GI doctor about it and he said “well, it’s probably a pulled muscle, I wouldn’t really worry about it.” A few days later, the pain had gotten so severe that I took him to urgent care and they said a similar thing because the placement of the pain was in an area on his back where there weren’t really any major organs.
Still, something didn’t feel right so we contacted his oncology clinic a few days later and asked if he could move his checkin appointment up a little as he was having pain and we were concerned. His original appointment was scheduled for January and this was the end of November…we didn’t feel it was okay to wait that long. They brought him in for blood work. The bloodwork results were concerning and indicative of the cancer coming back, so he was scheduled for scans later that evening.
We drove down to southdale to get scans, praying the whole way there and convincing ourselves it wasn’t back and there was just some kind of infection. We pulled over at a bar on France, went in, took a shot of whiskey, danced to the music in their parking lot, and then went to get scanned.
At 10:30 we received the results of the worst possible case scenario…his cancer had recurred and metastasized as stage lV peritoneal carcinomatosis.
His doctor said we’d be starting chemo two and a half weeks later. We begged to start earlier. We said we would drive anywhere. They told us no, two weeks wouldn’t matter. I immediately started researching specialists for this specific cancer and we began consulting with Mayo, Tufts in Boston, and a doctor in Kansas City.
Two weeks did matter. A week later sean began significantly deteriorating. I called the doctor and said “hey, I’m really concerned. Sean is rapidly deteriorating, can we please come in?” They told me there were a lot of emotions that come with this diagnosis, and I just had to let him experience those the way he needed to. I said “no, I understand that, but really, I think there is more to this.” they continued to say the same thing and to just give him time.
Later that evening he began vomiting, not even able to keep water down. I took him to the ER and they told us his cancer had grown and he had some tumors on his small intestines which were causing a blockage. They also informed us that they wouldn’t surgically remove them, and if he has a blockage they won’t do chemo.
We looked at them in horror and said “so you won’t remove this, but if it doesn’t go away, we can’t do chemo, and if we don’t do chemo he’ll die?” The PA looked at us and just said “yes.”
The ER nurse was horrified and let the PA out of the room. She encouraged us to wait for the oncologists and that cancer is nuanced and just to breathe. We were admitted up to the hospital where Sean had an NG tube placed to decompress his intestines and get the blockage down to a point where we could start chemo a week later.
Luckily, it went down, and we were discharged a week later on 12/12 and went in for chemo the next day 12/13.
His blood work at his chemo appointment on 12/27 came back a little off, so the doctor had ordered an ultrasound on his liver for 12/30. Unfortunately, all of the symptoms of his chemo were similar to that of his bowel obstruction.
On 12/27 he began having a lot of nausea and once again couldn’t really keep any food down.
We called the clinic and asked if they could do an X-ray in addition to his ultrasound to see if his blockage came back.
We went in for imaging, I brought him home and was overnighting his imaging down to a specialist in Boston when I received a call from the clinic that his blockage was back and we needed to get him in for fluids. We went back for fluids, went to the ER later that night 12/30, and were admitted the next morning to Fairview Hospital.
He had another NG Tube placed to decompress his intestines, and a drainage tube in his side to drain some abscesses that were in the front of his abdomen and has not been able to eat food since 12/27. The oncology team placed a venting gtube in his stomach to help avoid more blockages and his NG tube was removed. Because he can’t eat, he was placed on intravenous nutrition which runs 20 hours a day through his chest port, which we are managing at home. We were in the hospital from 12/30 to 1/14 and are feeling really overwhelmed.
We have an appointment in Kansas City on 1/25 with a surgeon who has experience with this specific cancer progression and specializes in HIPEC surgery, which is currently the best option to get rid of this metastasized cancer.
Because it’s in Kansas City, it is out of network. Insurance will hopefully cover some of it, but it is a $125,000 surgery.
We are hoping to raise funds to help with that, other medical bills, and to help with overall rent/bills as Kristin is no longer working to help Sean with his work and take care of his meds and intravenous nutrition around the clock.
We know it’s a lot, and we hate to ask for help, but we also just don’t know what else to do. Sean has been so brave and patient during this whole process, even with having tubes put in his sides and an NG tube down his nose into his stomach. We appreciate our communities and support so much. Our families have been so incredibly supportive. Seans family has been at the hospital with us and visiting home, and my family has been supporting from afar, my sister Lauren who is an oncology nurse has been sitting in on speaker phone for most of our conversations with doctors and helping us ask the right questions and advocate for us. This journey has just gotten a little too big for our us and our families to walk alone.
This is Kristin, Sean’s partner. I never thought that at the age of 31 we’d be having to write something like this. It is incredibly scary and not something anyone should ever be faced with, but we unfortunately are setting this gofundme up to help Sean survive cancer…for the second time.
For those of you who don’t know, Sean began experiencing fairly serious abdominal pain in November of 2021. We took him to the hospital where they determined he was having a Crohn’s flare up. A few weeks later in December, he was once again having pain and we took him back to the hospital. This time, they determined he had a CDIFF infection and was given medication and was let out on New Year’s Eve.
A week later in January 2022, he was still having pain and once again went back to the hospital. The doctors finally decided to give him scans and found that he had a tumor in his colon. He underwent an emergency surgery to remove the tumor and a portion of his colon as well as some lymph nodes, and was scheduled to begin chemotherapy as a precaution to get any other cells that might be hiding.
He began chemo in March of 2022, continuing to work and play shows here and there with the bands he is in. In August of 2022, his chemo finished and he was deemed in remission as no signs of cancer came up on a CT scan. We were thrilled.
Sean had missed out on so many things — we love shows and had bought tickets to see some of our favorites and due to the unpredictability of cancer and chemo, he didn’t get to go to half of them. He wasn’t able to play with our bands most of the time which led to Laura and I doing a lot of duo shows and crying on the way home. We weren’t able to really ride motorcycles for the summer and kept saying “that’s okay, we’ll just do it next year!”
Sean took on his cancer diagnosis with bravery and grace — continuing to work and have a record breaking year with his department as well show up for his friends - because that’s who Sean is.
In October of 2022, he began having some back pain. Figuring it was a pulled muscle, we started using a heating pad and Tylenol for it. Two weeks later, I got concerned it was a kidney infection and highly encouraged him to ask a doctor about it because those could get very serious very quickly. He talked to his GI doctor about it and he said “well, it’s probably a pulled muscle, I wouldn’t really worry about it.” A few days later, the pain had gotten so severe that I took him to urgent care and they said a similar thing because the placement of the pain was in an area on his back where there weren’t really any major organs.
Still, something didn’t feel right so we contacted his oncology clinic a few days later and asked if he could move his checkin appointment up a little as he was having pain and we were concerned. His original appointment was scheduled for January and this was the end of November…we didn’t feel it was okay to wait that long. They brought him in for blood work. The bloodwork results were concerning and indicative of the cancer coming back, so he was scheduled for scans later that evening.
We drove down to southdale to get scans, praying the whole way there and convincing ourselves it wasn’t back and there was just some kind of infection. We pulled over at a bar on France, went in, took a shot of whiskey, danced to the music in their parking lot, and then went to get scanned.
At 10:30 we received the results of the worst possible case scenario…his cancer had recurred and metastasized as stage lV peritoneal carcinomatosis.
His doctor said we’d be starting chemo two and a half weeks later. We begged to start earlier. We said we would drive anywhere. They told us no, two weeks wouldn’t matter. I immediately started researching specialists for this specific cancer and we began consulting with Mayo, Tufts in Boston, and a doctor in Kansas City.
Two weeks did matter. A week later sean began significantly deteriorating. I called the doctor and said “hey, I’m really concerned. Sean is rapidly deteriorating, can we please come in?” They told me there were a lot of emotions that come with this diagnosis, and I just had to let him experience those the way he needed to. I said “no, I understand that, but really, I think there is more to this.” they continued to say the same thing and to just give him time.
Later that evening he began vomiting, not even able to keep water down. I took him to the ER and they told us his cancer had grown and he had some tumors on his small intestines which were causing a blockage. They also informed us that they wouldn’t surgically remove them, and if he has a blockage they won’t do chemo.
We looked at them in horror and said “so you won’t remove this, but if it doesn’t go away, we can’t do chemo, and if we don’t do chemo he’ll die?” The PA looked at us and just said “yes.”
The ER nurse was horrified and let the PA out of the room. She encouraged us to wait for the oncologists and that cancer is nuanced and just to breathe. We were admitted up to the hospital where Sean had an NG tube placed to decompress his intestines and get the blockage down to a point where we could start chemo a week later.
Luckily, it went down, and we were discharged a week later on 12/12 and went in for chemo the next day 12/13.
His blood work at his chemo appointment on 12/27 came back a little off, so the doctor had ordered an ultrasound on his liver for 12/30. Unfortunately, all of the symptoms of his chemo were similar to that of his bowel obstruction.
On 12/27 he began having a lot of nausea and once again couldn’t really keep any food down.
We called the clinic and asked if they could do an X-ray in addition to his ultrasound to see if his blockage came back.
We went in for imaging, I brought him home and was overnighting his imaging down to a specialist in Boston when I received a call from the clinic that his blockage was back and we needed to get him in for fluids. We went back for fluids, went to the ER later that night 12/30, and were admitted the next morning to Fairview Hospital.
He had another NG Tube placed to decompress his intestines, and a drainage tube in his side to drain some abscesses that were in the front of his abdomen and has not been able to eat food since 12/27. The oncology team placed a venting gtube in his stomach to help avoid more blockages and his NG tube was removed. Because he can’t eat, he was placed on intravenous nutrition which runs 20 hours a day through his chest port, which we are managing at home. We were in the hospital from 12/30 to 1/14 and are feeling really overwhelmed.
We have an appointment in Kansas City on 1/25 with a surgeon who has experience with this specific cancer progression and specializes in HIPEC surgery, which is currently the best option to get rid of this metastasized cancer.
Because it’s in Kansas City, it is out of network. Insurance will hopefully cover some of it, but it is a $125,000 surgery.
We are hoping to raise funds to help with that, other medical bills, and to help with overall rent/bills as Kristin is no longer working to help Sean with his work and take care of his meds and intravenous nutrition around the clock.
We know it’s a lot, and we hate to ask for help, but we also just don’t know what else to do. Sean has been so brave and patient during this whole process, even with having tubes put in his sides and an NG tube down his nose into his stomach. We appreciate our communities and support so much. Our families have been so incredibly supportive. Seans family has been at the hospital with us and visiting home, and my family has been supporting from afar, my sister Lauren who is an oncology nurse has been sitting in on speaker phone for most of our conversations with doctors and helping us ask the right questions and advocate for us. This journey has just gotten a little too big for our us and our families to walk alone.