Jim's Sarcoma Treatment Fund
Donation protected
My name is Jim and I have been diagnosed with Soft Tissue Sarcoma (STS) more defined as Spindle Cell non-differentiated sarcoma in my right thigh that is a very rare and aggressive type of cancer in April of 2015.
After a false start at the local cancer center where I lost a month of precious time, my wife found the Shands Cancer Center (UF) in Gainesville, FL. They did a biopsy and got me started on Radiation therapy within 14 days.
I did 42 treatments of radiation and then had surgery to remove the 6.5 cm tumor along with 85% of my lateralis, and 15% of my intermedialis (the 2 muscles used for kicking and climbing stairs).
During pre-op, I had a CAT scan done of my chest (STS tumors have a very high probability of metastasis to the lungs) that showed a few small spots. The doctor told me this could be anything from tumors to asthma or a small infection, but that we couldn’t really do anything about them at this time anyway.
At my first post-op visit, they removed the knee immobilizer and the pressure bandages telling me the surgery looked to be very successful, they got good margins around the tumor which pathology has shown was 90% dead from radiation.
Unfortunately, at my second post-op visit the CAT scan showed the spots had spread (the pathology report says, “innumerable spots” and the original spots are now more than twice the size they were in the original CAT scan.
All of the treatments I’m looking at are pretty expensive and my wife and I are pretty tapped out after spending our money on a decade of autism and stroke recovery therapies for my son Alex. My wife is now working steadily freelancing again and taking care of Alex full time who is out of school still after his surgery this summer while I get cancer treatments and continue to work!
If you can help out with a donation that would be great!
After a false start at the local cancer center where I lost a month of precious time, my wife found the Shands Cancer Center (UF) in Gainesville, FL. They did a biopsy and got me started on Radiation therapy within 14 days.
I did 42 treatments of radiation and then had surgery to remove the 6.5 cm tumor along with 85% of my lateralis, and 15% of my intermedialis (the 2 muscles used for kicking and climbing stairs).
During pre-op, I had a CAT scan done of my chest (STS tumors have a very high probability of metastasis to the lungs) that showed a few small spots. The doctor told me this could be anything from tumors to asthma or a small infection, but that we couldn’t really do anything about them at this time anyway.
At my first post-op visit, they removed the knee immobilizer and the pressure bandages telling me the surgery looked to be very successful, they got good margins around the tumor which pathology has shown was 90% dead from radiation.
Unfortunately, at my second post-op visit the CAT scan showed the spots had spread (the pathology report says, “innumerable spots” and the original spots are now more than twice the size they were in the original CAT scan.
All of the treatments I’m looking at are pretty expensive and my wife and I are pretty tapped out after spending our money on a decade of autism and stroke recovery therapies for my son Alex. My wife is now working steadily freelancing again and taking care of Alex full time who is out of school still after his surgery this summer while I get cancer treatments and continue to work!
If you can help out with a donation that would be great!
Organizer
Jim Ludwig
Organizer
Tampa, FL