Jeff Simpson's Journey Continues

If you know the Simpson family like I do you know they are full of servant leadership in their community and beyond. Jeff is a gift to the Monona Grove community as a School Board Member and Deb is a huge gift to her school community as a social worker.  They serve in their home as parents to two amazing children and have in the past opened their home to supporting a teen who was in need of a place to live. Their hearts are filled with love for others. 

Just as they are both gifts to so many others this fundraiser is a chance for all of us to be a gift to them. Jeff's journey with cancer continues with lots of unknowns and pursuits of natural therapies that are not covered under any insurance. This is our chance to respond as a compassionate community of warriors walking alongside the Simpson family in love and support. Please read Jeff's story below and consider donating and sharing with others. 


Here is Jeff's story.  In 2010, Deb and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a trip to Jamaica where we also renewed our vows.  In the airport on the way down there, I noticed some blood in my urine.  Didn’t think much about it and set an appointment when I got home to just see the doc.  He sent me for a  scan and I did not think much of it but that afternoon my doctor called me and told me I had cancer. 

On May 10th 2010, I had a 10 ½ hour surgery, where they removed a tumor the size of a musk melon (approx. 9 lbs) from my pelvis.  I then spent the next three weeks in the hospital,  recovering and rehab.  I was then on a series of scans and had a small reoccurrence, which resulted in a quick 2 hour surgery and one night in the hospital (eazy breezy ☺)  

I then had a series of clean scans for the next 4.5 years, coming up just short of the “magic” 5 year mark and found it had reoccurred.   That led to another surgery that last 10 hours this time and “only” two weeks in the hospital.   Things were recovering ok but then we found that the mesh they put in from the first surgery, had become infected.  A foreign body being infected in the body meant it was not going to heal.  For the next few months I was dealing with fissures opening and closing, and while we were figuring this out, we found that the cancer had reoccurred yet again. 


This time, with the mesh infection and previous surgeries.  They did not think they could operate.  We then went to Mayo for a second opinion and their opinion was that in order to operate they wanted to take my whole leg and all of my organs and then there was a chance that the cancer would still reoccur.  After consulting with my surgeon in Madison again, we decided to skip the surgery. 

Then my oncologist felt that we could radiate the tumors.  So august 2016 we did some radiation and it stopped the tumors growing for about two years.  Then we recently found out the tumors had started slowly growing again.  

In the mean time, I had four fissures that were open and Deb had to pack them daily.  But in July of 2017,  a small hole also opened in my small intestine which caused the open wound to get much more attention.  After some trial and error, I have now worked it out where I can change my own wound bandages but it has to be done 2-3 times a day and it takes between 30-60 minutes to do.   

Now, my options are limited.  Working with my oncologist, we have decided to continue to monitor for now before we attempt any of the last options.  The options he gave me were to radiate it again (which comes with side effects) or take a pill called votrient which comes with side effects.


In the meantime, I have been doing my own therapy of things that people have tokd me have possibly worked.  I take numerous different supplements, use essential oils, have started taking CBD oils, do an occasional salt room therapy, and acupuncture.  Always looking for new ideas and trying new things.