Jesse Dana Rhody - Cancer Fund
Donation protected
This is for my little (but big) brother, Jesse Dana Rhody, the most selfless person I know.
My brother is 2 years younger than me, the 2nd oldest of 5 kids, but it didn’t take him long to catch up to me in size. He was born a whopping 10 pounds on December 12th 1991 and was the cutest little chunker. Our grandpa was SO proud of that. Any chance he could, he’d bet people that they couldn’t lift him up, it was like a contest. Unfortunately, Grandpa Rhody passed away when Jesse was 2, so he didn’t get to see him grow to be the man he is today, but I know he’s looking down on us all, proud as ever.
Growing up, Jesse was a 6’3”, 200 pound athlete. He ranked as a heavyweight wrestler in high school & volunteered to coach at elementary schools. He was involved in just about every sport that was available to him during his school years. But beyond that, Jesse is undoubtedly gifted, genius-like. I don’t just say that because he’s my brother, it’s just the truth. And anyone that knows him would say the same thing. After high school, he attended South Dakota School of Mines & Technology for 4 years, majoring in civil engineering. He only had 1 year of schooling left, but that’s when his health first started to deteriorate to the point where he could hardly function. He decided to take some time off to take care of his health and had planned to return to school, but his health did not improve.
When Jesse was 16, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I remember that day pretty clearly. I took him to the doctor because of flu-like symptoms, he’d been sick for awhile. The doctor came in and nonchalantly said “yeah, so you have diabetes” then walked out. I cried, but my brother didn’t say anything. I think he was shocked, and this led to a whirlpool of uncontrolled emotions and hospital visits. So as the years went on and Jesse struggled to maintain steady blood sugar numbers, our family watched him go from a buff athlete to the frail man he is today.
On July 13th 2019, my sister, Hunter, came to my house early in the morning. I knew something was wrong immediately because she was frantic. Jesse had gone to the ER in the middle of the night because of severe stomach pain. He assumed it was something like appendicitis. The hospital took an x-ray and ran blood tests. Jesse said when the nurse came in with his results, her face was pure white. I can’t help but wonder if it was because of the results or because Jesse had been in and out of the hospital multiple times over the last few months and all of this was overlooked. She told him they were sending him down to Sioux Falls in ambulance because they thought he either had leukemia or some form of lymphoma. If you know my brother, then you know he’s as stubborn as they come. He refused the ambulance and drove himself to Sioux Falls, an hour and a half drive from Watertown. The Watertown ER said they would call Sioux Falls to let them know he was coming, which they did not, so when he arrived in Sioux Falls they did the same tests as Watertown and gave him something for his pain and sent him home. He needed a biopsy, but since it was a Saturday, we’d have to wait. All we knew was that the lymph nodes in stomach and chest were severely enlarged and his blood work wasn’t normal. My mom lived in Tea at the time, thankfully, so he could stay there until he could get an appointment. My sisters and I drove down as fast as we could to be there for him. I’m pretty sure I got a speeding ticket that day. We all stayed at my mom’s house that weekend, unsure of what to do, scared and worried. On Monday we found out that they could do the biopsy that Thursday the 18th. There was another ER trip in between those days so he could have something to help with the extreme pain he was in. Thursday came, the whole family was at the clinic for his biopsy. To be honest, my brother wasn’t treated very well at first. We all knew he needed to be admitted into the hospital, he could not go back home in his condition. And at first we were told no, that’s not going to happen. Luckily, he got a new nurse on another floor where the actual biopsy would take place and she was wonderful. They admitted him into the hospital after his biopsy where he stayed from July 18th to July 30th.
Five days after the biopsy was done, we got the results: nonseminomatous germ cell tumor, stage 3B.
My brother started chemo while he was in the hospital and completed chemo on October 7th. I shaved off his thick, dark hair right there in his hospital room. My mom quit her job so she could be there for him, so she could take care of him, because to my mom, us kids come first, no matter what.
You know, I could probably write an entire book series about everything that has happened to my family in 2019 alone. It’s been a very hard year. But my family is tight, we’re strong, and we work hard, we will always get through. But seeing my brother get skinnier, down to 150 pounds, paler, losing all of his hair, in pain… it took a toll on my entire family. This is by far the hardest thing we’ve ever gone through. But we’re all going to be stronger from it in the end, especially my brother.
Everything else was put on hold, our main focus was my brother. My mom and brother had no income coming in and we all did everything we could to help. My brother was fired from his job because he couldn’t return to work within 30 days from July 15th. So there went his health insurance. We kept it a secret from my brother until after he was done with chemo. He loved his job and we didn’t want him stressing about it. We’ve tried to protect him from any negativity since this all began. So my mom took matters into her own hands. She got him signed up for Cobra so he had some form of health insurance and was also able to get him on short term disability. The short term disability has been paying for Cobra, which is $500 a month. Jesse hadn’t been at his job a full year yet, so he didn’t qualify for FMLA.
Fast forward to October 18th, chemo was over with and Jesse just had scans and lab done the day before. His oncologist, Dr. Sumey, had him come in to go over his results. He was told he was cancer free, it’s undetectable!! My mom called everyone, crying, letting us know what they just found out. But Dr. Sumey wanted Jes to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to see some specialists just to be sure. His appointment in Rochester was October 24th, it seemed so quick, but we all just thought “okay, just a second set of eyes checking it out”. October 24th came and Jesse was seen by a team of 3 surgeons. They all agreed that he needed surgery to remove his lymph nodes, they weren’t completely shrunk. They also said that there is a 50/50 chance that there could be one type of cancer that is not detectable and that chemo doesn’t kill, so they said surgery is the best option.
Jesse will be going back to Rochester on November 18th (which is also his favorite sister’s birthday- me!) for lab and to meet with the surgeon. November 19th they will perform the surgery and he will need to stay there another 4-5 days to be monitored. He will be in recovery for 4-6 weeks after that. So my mom made the decision to move back to Watertown so she can be closer to family and so she has help taking care of Jesse after his surgery. We’re all going to take turns going to Rochester to help my mom out that week. Just to be there for them both. My mom has taken care of everything this whole time and she hasn’t even lost her marbles yet. My brother has not complained about anything this whole time, not even once. He’s been worried about everyone else! Seriously, he is selfless.
We, as a family, are asking if anyone can help in any way, shape, or form. My brother won’t be able to go back to work until after the New Year, so anything would be very helpful and greatly appreciated. We would never ask for help if we thought we could handle it all, we haven’t had to ask yet. But we were not prepared for the surgery in Rochester. We love and thank everyone for the prayers, support, and positivity during all of this. It’s hard asking strangers for help, I never thought I’d be doing something like this. I wish you could all know my brother, he is truly the most genuine person you’d ever meet.
**Ladies, he’s single by the way…
Love,
The Rhody Bunch
My brother is 2 years younger than me, the 2nd oldest of 5 kids, but it didn’t take him long to catch up to me in size. He was born a whopping 10 pounds on December 12th 1991 and was the cutest little chunker. Our grandpa was SO proud of that. Any chance he could, he’d bet people that they couldn’t lift him up, it was like a contest. Unfortunately, Grandpa Rhody passed away when Jesse was 2, so he didn’t get to see him grow to be the man he is today, but I know he’s looking down on us all, proud as ever.
Growing up, Jesse was a 6’3”, 200 pound athlete. He ranked as a heavyweight wrestler in high school & volunteered to coach at elementary schools. He was involved in just about every sport that was available to him during his school years. But beyond that, Jesse is undoubtedly gifted, genius-like. I don’t just say that because he’s my brother, it’s just the truth. And anyone that knows him would say the same thing. After high school, he attended South Dakota School of Mines & Technology for 4 years, majoring in civil engineering. He only had 1 year of schooling left, but that’s when his health first started to deteriorate to the point where he could hardly function. He decided to take some time off to take care of his health and had planned to return to school, but his health did not improve.
When Jesse was 16, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I remember that day pretty clearly. I took him to the doctor because of flu-like symptoms, he’d been sick for awhile. The doctor came in and nonchalantly said “yeah, so you have diabetes” then walked out. I cried, but my brother didn’t say anything. I think he was shocked, and this led to a whirlpool of uncontrolled emotions and hospital visits. So as the years went on and Jesse struggled to maintain steady blood sugar numbers, our family watched him go from a buff athlete to the frail man he is today.
On July 13th 2019, my sister, Hunter, came to my house early in the morning. I knew something was wrong immediately because she was frantic. Jesse had gone to the ER in the middle of the night because of severe stomach pain. He assumed it was something like appendicitis. The hospital took an x-ray and ran blood tests. Jesse said when the nurse came in with his results, her face was pure white. I can’t help but wonder if it was because of the results or because Jesse had been in and out of the hospital multiple times over the last few months and all of this was overlooked. She told him they were sending him down to Sioux Falls in ambulance because they thought he either had leukemia or some form of lymphoma. If you know my brother, then you know he’s as stubborn as they come. He refused the ambulance and drove himself to Sioux Falls, an hour and a half drive from Watertown. The Watertown ER said they would call Sioux Falls to let them know he was coming, which they did not, so when he arrived in Sioux Falls they did the same tests as Watertown and gave him something for his pain and sent him home. He needed a biopsy, but since it was a Saturday, we’d have to wait. All we knew was that the lymph nodes in stomach and chest were severely enlarged and his blood work wasn’t normal. My mom lived in Tea at the time, thankfully, so he could stay there until he could get an appointment. My sisters and I drove down as fast as we could to be there for him. I’m pretty sure I got a speeding ticket that day. We all stayed at my mom’s house that weekend, unsure of what to do, scared and worried. On Monday we found out that they could do the biopsy that Thursday the 18th. There was another ER trip in between those days so he could have something to help with the extreme pain he was in. Thursday came, the whole family was at the clinic for his biopsy. To be honest, my brother wasn’t treated very well at first. We all knew he needed to be admitted into the hospital, he could not go back home in his condition. And at first we were told no, that’s not going to happen. Luckily, he got a new nurse on another floor where the actual biopsy would take place and she was wonderful. They admitted him into the hospital after his biopsy where he stayed from July 18th to July 30th.
Five days after the biopsy was done, we got the results: nonseminomatous germ cell tumor, stage 3B.
My brother started chemo while he was in the hospital and completed chemo on October 7th. I shaved off his thick, dark hair right there in his hospital room. My mom quit her job so she could be there for him, so she could take care of him, because to my mom, us kids come first, no matter what.
You know, I could probably write an entire book series about everything that has happened to my family in 2019 alone. It’s been a very hard year. But my family is tight, we’re strong, and we work hard, we will always get through. But seeing my brother get skinnier, down to 150 pounds, paler, losing all of his hair, in pain… it took a toll on my entire family. This is by far the hardest thing we’ve ever gone through. But we’re all going to be stronger from it in the end, especially my brother.
Everything else was put on hold, our main focus was my brother. My mom and brother had no income coming in and we all did everything we could to help. My brother was fired from his job because he couldn’t return to work within 30 days from July 15th. So there went his health insurance. We kept it a secret from my brother until after he was done with chemo. He loved his job and we didn’t want him stressing about it. We’ve tried to protect him from any negativity since this all began. So my mom took matters into her own hands. She got him signed up for Cobra so he had some form of health insurance and was also able to get him on short term disability. The short term disability has been paying for Cobra, which is $500 a month. Jesse hadn’t been at his job a full year yet, so he didn’t qualify for FMLA.
Fast forward to October 18th, chemo was over with and Jesse just had scans and lab done the day before. His oncologist, Dr. Sumey, had him come in to go over his results. He was told he was cancer free, it’s undetectable!! My mom called everyone, crying, letting us know what they just found out. But Dr. Sumey wanted Jes to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to see some specialists just to be sure. His appointment in Rochester was October 24th, it seemed so quick, but we all just thought “okay, just a second set of eyes checking it out”. October 24th came and Jesse was seen by a team of 3 surgeons. They all agreed that he needed surgery to remove his lymph nodes, they weren’t completely shrunk. They also said that there is a 50/50 chance that there could be one type of cancer that is not detectable and that chemo doesn’t kill, so they said surgery is the best option.
Jesse will be going back to Rochester on November 18th (which is also his favorite sister’s birthday- me!) for lab and to meet with the surgeon. November 19th they will perform the surgery and he will need to stay there another 4-5 days to be monitored. He will be in recovery for 4-6 weeks after that. So my mom made the decision to move back to Watertown so she can be closer to family and so she has help taking care of Jesse after his surgery. We’re all going to take turns going to Rochester to help my mom out that week. Just to be there for them both. My mom has taken care of everything this whole time and she hasn’t even lost her marbles yet. My brother has not complained about anything this whole time, not even once. He’s been worried about everyone else! Seriously, he is selfless.
We, as a family, are asking if anyone can help in any way, shape, or form. My brother won’t be able to go back to work until after the New Year, so anything would be very helpful and greatly appreciated. We would never ask for help if we thought we could handle it all, we haven’t had to ask yet. But we were not prepared for the surgery in Rochester. We love and thank everyone for the prayers, support, and positivity during all of this. It’s hard asking strangers for help, I never thought I’d be doing something like this. I wish you could all know my brother, he is truly the most genuine person you’d ever meet.
**Ladies, he’s single by the way…
Love,
The Rhody Bunch
Organizer and beneficiary
Hannah Lynn
Organizer
Watertown, SD
Jesse Rhody
Beneficiary