Help Stephan Fight Cancer

On January 4th, 2018 Stephan was diagnosed with Stage 4 Signet Ring Adenocarcinoma Colon Cancer. This was six months after undergoing his first procedure for appendicitis. Little did we know that was the start of his journey with cancer. His pathology report that day was skipped by the staff so they did not realize it was cancer that caused his appendix to form an abscess, not appendicitis. He underwent another surgery with the wrong diagnosis but thankfully his cancerous appendix was removed. When Stephan went to the doctor this January he was only thinking about the hernia that had developed from his appendix surgery and was not prepared for what happened next. The doctor informed him of the mistakes of the staff and shared the news of his diagnosis. He has had Stage 4 cancer since June of 2017 and has had cancer for years without his knowledge. When his appendix perforated to form the abscess, cancer cells were able to spread through his body. We were sent to have a CT scan to detect where the cancer had infected. Thinking the worst since he's been in Stage 4 for 7 months, we were elated to find it did not show any masses. Because of the rarity of this cancer, Stephan is being transferred to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis to perform his next surgery and begin his chemotherapy treatments. The prognosis for this cancer is not comforting but Stephan has always been a fighter and is going to give this everything he has. The stress of cancer treatment should not be accompanied with financial stress. Stephan's medications will be very expensive and we will be exploring holistic medicines as well to give him every possible chance of survival. I am only a student and due to his inability to work, we are in desperate need of funding to save his life and save our home, cars, and way of life. For those of you that have known Stephan, you know that he is full of light, love, and life. He is always the one to drop what he is doing to help his friends and anyone who needs it. He has always had a knack for uplifting those around him and has so many talents that we all envy. No one deserves cancer and Stephan needs us all to help and think of him the way he has for all of us.