Help Ken Kick Colon Cancer
Donation protected
In May 2015 we were in the process of getting ready for our oldest child, Sadie to graduate high school and preparing to move to California to continue to support her acting career, we decided to stick together as a family and move out of our home in Kingwood, Texas at the end of May and then Sadie and I planed to go to California in June to find a place to live then Ken and our two sons Brody and Carter would come up in August. I resigned my job of 15 years on May 15th after training my replacement so that I would have time to pack up our home. On May 19th Ken had a doctors appt. because he had been getting a little light headed and unable to do much physical activity without getting dizzy and having heart palpitations he had also mentioned that he had been passing blood in his stool for a while but didn't say anything about it because it didn't hurt. After his physical the doctors where concerned and sent him to a cardiologist and gastroenterologist. By the time Ken saw the GI doctor on May 20th his blood test had come back from his doctor visit and his hemoglobin was low and he was anemic, the GI doctor sent him straight to the hospital. Once in the hospital they had to give him a blood transfusion because he had lost too much blood and they scheduled a colonoscopy for Friday May 22nd to try to find the source of the bleed.
After the colonoscopy the doctor spoke to Ken and I and told us Ken had a mass in the left side of his colon and that he was pretty sure it was cancer, he explained he would need surgery to remove the mass and that we would need to speak with a surgeon and an oncologist. The doctor in the hospital said Ken would not be able to leave without having the surgery first. After talking with the surgeon Ken explained that our daughter was graduating from high school the next day, May 23rd and that we had to be moved out of our home on May 31st, so the surgeon agreed to wait to do the surgery until June 1st (Our 19th wedding anniversary) We attended our daughters high school graduation the next day then our sons 10th birthday the following day, then we had to focus on finishing moving out out of our home. We managed to get out of our home in time and now we have temporarily moved in with my parents while we try to figure out what to do.. On Monday June 1st Ken underwent a colectomy where they removed 8-10" of his colon along with 12 lymph nodes and then a colon resection where they sewed the colon back together. The surgeon said the surgery went well but that it looked like the cancer had started to go outside the colon wall and attach to his side so he also had to cut into his left side a little to remove where it was attached. Ken was released from the hospital on June 3rd, his 43rd birthday.
On June 4th the surgeon called with the results from the pathology report and confirmed it was indeed cancer and that it was found in five of the twelve Lymph nodes they removed. It is the last stage of stage 3 colon cancer and the mass they removed was about as big as they see with this type of cancer. Ken will need 5 weeks of daily (Mon - Fri) radiation to treat the area where it had started to attach to his side and 6 months of chemo. Since he is young for this type of cancer the doctor also suggested that we do some genetic testing to rule out some other things and also find out about some possible implications for our children. On June 11th Ken began to feel sick and spiked an 103.4 fever and had to be treated for an infection under the incision on his stomach which is a about an 8" cut down the middle of his stomach to his belly button. He spent 4 more days in the hospital fighting this infection and also getting an iron transfusion to treat his anemia. Ken will have a PET/CT scan on June 24th to take a look at his whole body and check for any possible spread of cancer, please pray that the scan shows no other signs of cancer. His treatment will start July 6th. In the meantime our life is in a little bit of a holding pattern as we wait for results and treatments. We are blessed that Ken does have health insurance but he needs to get back to work soon to keep it and I no longer have a job, even with insurance we are responsible for 20% of everything which is adding up to be a lot of money.
If you are able to contribute any amount we would be so thankful and if you are not we appreciate the thoughts, prayers and support everyone has given us very much!
We are hopeful and believe that with modern medicine and the power of prayer Ken and our family will make it through this.
Thank you so much
Ken, Serena ,Sadie, Brody & Carter
After the colonoscopy the doctor spoke to Ken and I and told us Ken had a mass in the left side of his colon and that he was pretty sure it was cancer, he explained he would need surgery to remove the mass and that we would need to speak with a surgeon and an oncologist. The doctor in the hospital said Ken would not be able to leave without having the surgery first. After talking with the surgeon Ken explained that our daughter was graduating from high school the next day, May 23rd and that we had to be moved out of our home on May 31st, so the surgeon agreed to wait to do the surgery until June 1st (Our 19th wedding anniversary) We attended our daughters high school graduation the next day then our sons 10th birthday the following day, then we had to focus on finishing moving out out of our home. We managed to get out of our home in time and now we have temporarily moved in with my parents while we try to figure out what to do.. On Monday June 1st Ken underwent a colectomy where they removed 8-10" of his colon along with 12 lymph nodes and then a colon resection where they sewed the colon back together. The surgeon said the surgery went well but that it looked like the cancer had started to go outside the colon wall and attach to his side so he also had to cut into his left side a little to remove where it was attached. Ken was released from the hospital on June 3rd, his 43rd birthday.
On June 4th the surgeon called with the results from the pathology report and confirmed it was indeed cancer and that it was found in five of the twelve Lymph nodes they removed. It is the last stage of stage 3 colon cancer and the mass they removed was about as big as they see with this type of cancer. Ken will need 5 weeks of daily (Mon - Fri) radiation to treat the area where it had started to attach to his side and 6 months of chemo. Since he is young for this type of cancer the doctor also suggested that we do some genetic testing to rule out some other things and also find out about some possible implications for our children. On June 11th Ken began to feel sick and spiked an 103.4 fever and had to be treated for an infection under the incision on his stomach which is a about an 8" cut down the middle of his stomach to his belly button. He spent 4 more days in the hospital fighting this infection and also getting an iron transfusion to treat his anemia. Ken will have a PET/CT scan on June 24th to take a look at his whole body and check for any possible spread of cancer, please pray that the scan shows no other signs of cancer. His treatment will start July 6th. In the meantime our life is in a little bit of a holding pattern as we wait for results and treatments. We are blessed that Ken does have health insurance but he needs to get back to work soon to keep it and I no longer have a job, even with insurance we are responsible for 20% of everything which is adding up to be a lot of money.
If you are able to contribute any amount we would be so thankful and if you are not we appreciate the thoughts, prayers and support everyone has given us very much!
We are hopeful and believe that with modern medicine and the power of prayer Ken and our family will make it through this.
Thank you so much
Ken, Serena ,Sadie, Brody & Carter
Organizer
Serena Seibert Canion
Organizer
Bear Branch, TX