- D
“We’re gonna kick this thing in the butt.”
On February 20, 2019, this was Jim’s response to his diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. Jim is a father to Ashley and Katie, a husband to Diane, and a son and brother to Mary and Debbie. Jim has approached every stage of his cancer diagnosis and treatment with determination, humility, and hard work, just like he has every challenge he has faced before.
Those that know Jim well are aware of his passion for space, having spent the last few years working both a full-time job to provide for his family and developing Bantam Space, a company devoted to furthering our understanding and ability to make use of the resources available in space. Even when he’s not pursuing his passions or providing for his family at work, Jim is well-known for going out of his way to help others. Whether it’s voluntarily chasing a mattress down a highway, dismantling and reassembling a broken car engine, or simply devoting his weekends to helping his daughters move or changing tires in the rain, Jim spends his time taking care of others. Every week, he spends his Sunday’s at brunch with his family and his two grand-pups, who prefer him above any other member of the family (mostly because he’s the first to give them a treat or play catch).
Like it is for many cancer patients, the diagnosis process was long, and frustrating. Early in November of 2018, Jim began feeling very fatigued, even after simple, daily activities. After four months of worsening fatigue, early bedtimes, and missed opportunities to spend time with family and friends, Jim began experience excruciating pain in his hip. Because of this injury, Jim’s physician suggested that he see a urologist, who discovered Monoclonal-M protein in his urine, which indicated that something was seriously wrong. The pain and fatigue that Jim was experiencing was due to Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that was, essentially, eating away at a portion of his spine and limiting his ability to continue to live his day-to-day life.
Since his diagnosis, Jim has undergone two surgeries to attempt to repair his spine, resulting in a seven day long hospital stay. The doctor’s goals were for Jim to immediately begin radiation and chemotherapy post-surgery, but further complications and intense pain meant multiple return visits to the hospital and ER. During this time, Jim was forced to regularly miss work, even before he was able to begin the life-saving treatments he needed. Now, Jim regularly undergoes chemotherapy and radiation, and despite the notorious side-effects of these treatments, has continued to work as much as possible. For most Multiple Myeloma patients, this is the only treatment available, and it means that the rest of their life will be spent in a cycle filled with years of fatigue, nausea, and missed opportunities with family and friends as they attempt to drive the cancer into remission. Most patients will experience this cycle over and over again.
However, Jim has an incredible opportunity that will allow him to return to a relatively healthy life: an autologous stem-cell transplant, a truly life-saving opportunity, during which Jim’s stem cell’s will be harvested, ‘cleaned’ of all cancer, and returned to his body. The doctors believe that, if this transplant is successful, Jim could live another 10-20 years cancer-free. This means that Jim has the opportunity for 10-20 more years exploring his passion for space, supporting his family, and taking care of his children and grand-pups the way that he has for the past 57 years.
For this transplant to be successful, Jim and Diane will need to spend eight weeks total at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Research Center in Nashville, TN, nearly three hours away from their home in Chattanooga. During most of this time, Jim will be experiencing the largest possible dose of radiation and chemotherapy possible, nearly 100 times greater than is typically used for Multiple Myeloma patients. He will lose his hair, likely be unable to get out of bed, and experience other extreme symptoms. Once this process is complete, his cancer-free stem cells will be returned to his body, and he will spend the rest of his time in Nashville recovering as a transplant patient.
This is an incredibly opportunity that we, Ashley and Katie, are so excited and grateful for, but it also means that our parents will have no reliable income during the time leading up to and recovering from the transplant. We are asking for help from our communities, our family, and our friends to support our parents during this incredibly difficult time.
In addition to the thousands of dollars in medical bills already accrued, our parents will miss out on nearly two months of income and be required to support themselves in Nashville during this time. Additionally, faced with two months of medical leave, Jim’s employer has chosen to terminate his position, meaning that Jim will be required to not only recover from a major transplant, but also begin a job search this August.
Any donation, however small, would be an incredible help to our family during this time of need. Together, “we’re gonna kick this thing in the butt.”
On February 20, 2019, this was Jim’s response to his diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. Jim is a father to Ashley and Katie, a husband to Diane, and a son and brother to Mary and Debbie. Jim has approached every stage of his cancer diagnosis and treatment with determination, humility, and hard work, just like he has every challenge he has faced before.
Those that know Jim well are aware of his passion for space, having spent the last few years working both a full-time job to provide for his family and developing Bantam Space, a company devoted to furthering our understanding and ability to make use of the resources available in space. Even when he’s not pursuing his passions or providing for his family at work, Jim is well-known for going out of his way to help others. Whether it’s voluntarily chasing a mattress down a highway, dismantling and reassembling a broken car engine, or simply devoting his weekends to helping his daughters move or changing tires in the rain, Jim spends his time taking care of others. Every week, he spends his Sunday’s at brunch with his family and his two grand-pups, who prefer him above any other member of the family (mostly because he’s the first to give them a treat or play catch).
Like it is for many cancer patients, the diagnosis process was long, and frustrating. Early in November of 2018, Jim began feeling very fatigued, even after simple, daily activities. After four months of worsening fatigue, early bedtimes, and missed opportunities to spend time with family and friends, Jim began experience excruciating pain in his hip. Because of this injury, Jim’s physician suggested that he see a urologist, who discovered Monoclonal-M protein in his urine, which indicated that something was seriously wrong. The pain and fatigue that Jim was experiencing was due to Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that was, essentially, eating away at a portion of his spine and limiting his ability to continue to live his day-to-day life.
Since his diagnosis, Jim has undergone two surgeries to attempt to repair his spine, resulting in a seven day long hospital stay. The doctor’s goals were for Jim to immediately begin radiation and chemotherapy post-surgery, but further complications and intense pain meant multiple return visits to the hospital and ER. During this time, Jim was forced to regularly miss work, even before he was able to begin the life-saving treatments he needed. Now, Jim regularly undergoes chemotherapy and radiation, and despite the notorious side-effects of these treatments, has continued to work as much as possible. For most Multiple Myeloma patients, this is the only treatment available, and it means that the rest of their life will be spent in a cycle filled with years of fatigue, nausea, and missed opportunities with family and friends as they attempt to drive the cancer into remission. Most patients will experience this cycle over and over again.
However, Jim has an incredible opportunity that will allow him to return to a relatively healthy life: an autologous stem-cell transplant, a truly life-saving opportunity, during which Jim’s stem cell’s will be harvested, ‘cleaned’ of all cancer, and returned to his body. The doctors believe that, if this transplant is successful, Jim could live another 10-20 years cancer-free. This means that Jim has the opportunity for 10-20 more years exploring his passion for space, supporting his family, and taking care of his children and grand-pups the way that he has for the past 57 years.
For this transplant to be successful, Jim and Diane will need to spend eight weeks total at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Research Center in Nashville, TN, nearly three hours away from their home in Chattanooga. During most of this time, Jim will be experiencing the largest possible dose of radiation and chemotherapy possible, nearly 100 times greater than is typically used for Multiple Myeloma patients. He will lose his hair, likely be unable to get out of bed, and experience other extreme symptoms. Once this process is complete, his cancer-free stem cells will be returned to his body, and he will spend the rest of his time in Nashville recovering as a transplant patient.
This is an incredibly opportunity that we, Ashley and Katie, are so excited and grateful for, but it also means that our parents will have no reliable income during the time leading up to and recovering from the transplant. We are asking for help from our communities, our family, and our friends to support our parents during this incredibly difficult time.
In addition to the thousands of dollars in medical bills already accrued, our parents will miss out on nearly two months of income and be required to support themselves in Nashville during this time. Additionally, faced with two months of medical leave, Jim’s employer has chosen to terminate his position, meaning that Jim will be required to not only recover from a major transplant, but also begin a job search this August.
Any donation, however small, would be an incredible help to our family during this time of need. Together, “we’re gonna kick this thing in the butt.”