Help Tony Fight Cancer Again: The Sequel No One Asked For

Dayton (Tony) Frederick (9/11/01) fought cancer once before in 2021, when they were diagnosed with an aggressive sarcoma in their heart that needed to be removed via emergency open-heart surgery, followed by a second open-heart surgery an hour later due to complications with the first. After six months of hospitalizations for chemotherapy and radiation, Tony was given a clean bill of health and a new lease on life. They have used it ever since to spread joy and love wherever they go because they know all too well that life is far too short to take happiness for granted.

Unfortunately, our worst fears were realized when Tony's sarcoma struck again. The problem with a cardiac sarcoma is that the cancer cells can go anywhere since all of your blood passes through your heart and can carry any remaining cancer cells anywhere in the body until it latches on somewhere. This time, it latched onto Tony's spine and started growing quickly. Tony soon began experiencing back pain and trouble breathing, which it took the doctors about a month to pinpoint the cause (though we did learn that Tony has a compression fracture in their T6 vertebra, likely from all of the radiation last time as it's in the exact same place). By that time, it had grown to about the size of an orange and wrapped around Tony's spine so that they initially thought it was two tumors, but it ended up being one large one.

The doctors immediately started Tony on chemotherapy. They went through that for about two months; however, we recently learned that it has done nothing to shrink the tumor and it's actually grown more in size.

We are raising funds for Tony's medical care and expenses because while they're still working while going through treatment, their part-time gallery attendant job does not provide insurance or enough means to handle any of this. Luckily, Dayton does have Medicaid through the state, but it does not cover treatment outside of Wisconsin. Like last time, Dayton will need to go to Rochester, Minnesota, to get treatment through the Mayo Clinic as they are the only place in this part of the country with the appropriate equipment to give Tony focused radiation that won't damage the surrounding tissues and organs as much. However, we will do everything within our power to ensure Dayton gets the exact care that they need. I will be purchasing supplemental insurance that will help with the treatment cost and will pause my work and move with Dayton to Rochester for treatment.

Thank you so much for reading and sharing our story. Last time we went through this, the support of our community was all that got us through the treatments. Love from the Frederick family to yours.