Jack is a bionic man, but it wasn't cheap

On January 11th, Jack broke his leg while doing a cartwheel. When he landed, he heard two loud pops, felt excruciating pain, and couldn't get up. The paramedics transported him to the ER, where x-rays showed that the knee had shifted, part of it had broken off, and a large mass was inside the distal (lower) femur. The large mass was a Giant Cell Tumor, a benign aggressive tumor the size of a tennis ball that had eroded the distal femur and severely weakened it so much that a cartwheel was enough to crack it like an egg. Giant Cell Tumors only occur in about 1 in 1,000,000 people. There aren't very many doctors that can perform the surgery necessary to remove them; there was actually only one doctor in Chicago that could do the surgery for Jack.
 
Three hospitals and two weeks later, Jack was having surgery to remove 10cm of his femur and 1cm of his tibia to completely remove the tumor and affected bone. They replaced his entire knee with a new, heavy-duty, strong, metal knee. I guess I was accurate when I told him before surgery that he would be the $6M Man! They rebuilt him - they had the technology - he's now a bionic man. He's going to be better than he was before - better, stronger, faster (we hope).
 

This is a much more intense knee replacement than any you may be familiar with, so the recovery will take longer than a standard knee replacement. In fact, Jack had to spend two more weeks in the hospital after surgery to recover to the point where he could go home.

 

The road to recovery is going to be long, slow, and expensive. We haven't seen any bills yet for the 27 days he spent in hospitals, the surgery and medical team, the physical therapy, or at-home PT and nursing care. Even after home physical therapy ends, there will be many months of physical therapy and follow-up visits for several years to see his orthopedic oncologist - there is a 10% chance that another tumor could grow.

 

Right now, our goal of $3500 covers his rent, bills, other living expenses, and some copays while Jack is unable to work and focuses on his recovery. As we know the actual costs, the goal will be updated.