Support Jake’s Fight StageIV

11/10/2023 UPDATE:  Jacob has a PET scan that shows his tumor is growing again. They are switching him back to R-EPOCH chemo, and he will be admitted to Mayo for five days during the infusion. Please continue to pray and share his story! 

 11/02/2023 UPDATE: Jacob’s diagnosis was updated to Stage IV Primary Mediastinal B Cell Lymphoma. Primary Mediastinal is a rare and extremely aggressive form of B Cell Lymphoma. We are continuing with chemotherapy and are discussing the addition of radiation at the end of treatment. Please continue to keep Jacob in your thoughts and prayers. Please share his story! 

In August of this year, my autistic son Jacob was diagnosed with cancer.

After an extended summer visit, Jacob returned very ill. Three days after returning home, he showed me a lump on his chest and said he didn’t feel well. I made a doctor appointment with his doctor, and she ordered X-rays. And then an emergency outpatient CT scan. 

Within an hour of getting home from the CT, the doctor called. She told me it was cancer. My world crumbled. I couldn’t imagine having to tell Jacob.

The doctor said it was critical that I take Jacob to the ER immediately. She said that his vital organs were being crushed by the multiple tumors in his chest. He had one large tumor crushing his lungs and his major arteries. One tumor had tentacles that walked down his right lung, collapsing the lower lobes and invading his diaphragm. He had another tumor encasing his heart and crushing it. The blood flow through his pulmonary artery was 1/10 of what it should have been.

Jacob was admitted to the cardiac ICU at Baptist MD Anderson on August 11, 2023. He had been home for less than 7 full days. A biopsy was done bedside in the ICU on Sunday morning, August 13.

Jacob was initially diagnosed with Primary Mediastinal Lymphoma and started on R-EPOCH while inpatient. His diagnosis was later changed to Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, and his chemo regimen was changed to R-CHOP. The doctors have said that his cancer is extremely aggressive and fast growing, all of this growth and damage happened in the space of 8 weeks.

While Jacob was in the hospital, he didn’t want to be alone; and as his primary caregiver and POA, I needed to be there. We worked to keep someone with him at all times. 

While most of the issues with his vital organs have resolved during chemo, his heart has not made the comeback we were hoping for. The doctors believe that the tumor that encased his heart, also invaded it, causing damage.

At this point, Jacob is halfway through chemo. I am still rarely able to work 40 hours due to multiple doctors appointments for him. The damage to his heart and liver have made the need for specialists to follow his care more and more apparent; and some weeks he has as many as 4 doctor appointments.

At this time, I am asking for any and all financial assistance. The money would be used to pay medical bills, cover expenses of getting Jacob to and from doctor appointments, and to help keep us afloat in the weeks I can not do 40 hours of work due to his schedule.

Every Penny and EVERY prayer helps!