Helping Ben Beat Cancer

Ben was having difficulty swallowing his food for about 6 months and was losing a lot of weight. After going to the Doctor and having many tests, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Esophageal Cancer. He is only 28. There was a large tumor covering his stomach entrance that prevents any food from entering.

Right away he was put in a hospital and had the chemo portal put in as well as a feeding tube inserted into his stomach, so he would be able to get the much needed nutrients into his depleted body. This was literally a life saver! Ben also had to have some blood transfusions because this tumor was bleeding in his stomach.

In early March Ben began the Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy. Ben lives in N. Montana and the rest of our family lives in Utah. Our family goal has been to have someone there with Ben at all times as he goes through this treatment phase. Tua and Patty have been taking turns flying into Montana, using a rental car to get around, and have started to drive up there now that the weather is getting better. Radiation and Chemotherapy will be finishing up in about two weeks for this first round.

Recovery will be a long one. After treatment, Ben will have to give his body a rest the MD said today. Then, after scans, scopes and blood tests, the date of Surgery will be determined. He will have a stomach resection, and the MD today said it will be a "Big One". Patty and Tua will then be back up to help him recover.

Through this time, Patty has had to miss a lot of work and the costs of flying, rental cars, driving, some hotels, and other expenses are adding up. Ben has to continue to pay rent on his apartment with lots of other expenses even though he can't work. Our goal is to raise some finances to help Patty and Tua with the past expenses and future expenses of helping Ben until he is able to get to work again.

We want to acknowlege that some people have helped already with some donations, and we are so grateful for that!