Help John Fight Cancer
Donation protected
On Friday December 29th John McElhanely, who has been one of my best friends for over 30 years, was working on ship that was docked in New Orleans and had extreme headaches, dizziness and nauseous so he was taken to the local hospital. While there the doctors did a CT scan and MRI and it was determined he had a tumor in the lower back side of his brain that needed to be surgically removed. The surgery went well and the tumor was sent off to be biopsied.
On January 14th his biopsy results came back and let him know that his tumor was called Medulloblastoma. This is a cancerous tumor which is normally a pediatric type of malignant tumor and is very rare in adults. It normally starts in the region of the brain at the base of the skull but tends to spread to other parts of the brain and spinal cord. Needless to say this was not the news he wanted to hear but it was the cards he was dealt and he is fighting this thing with great optimism.
John's treatments are going to be very long and will not be easy. He had a port implanted for chemo (which is a surgical procedure) and started treatments in February. He is in the hospital (OHSU) 4 consecutive days each month getting treatment and was originally scheduled to do this for 12 months in a row. After the chemo treatments he was then going to start the radiation treatments. Radiation is 5 days in a row, each week for 6 weeks straight and this is done in Seattle. After doing the chemo in February and March the doctors now have decided it is better for him to go do the radiation now and will actually be starting that process in April and will be in Seattle for about 6 weeks while getting the treatment. They did this because it sounds like there is only a couple times a year they do this type of radiation so he had to do it now in order to get it done in time. Once he is done with that he will then come back to continue doing the other 10 months of chemo in Portland at OHSU.
As you can see this is going to be a very long, hard fought battle and this is why I am asking for help. John was lucky enough to have good insurance and a lot of medical bills are being covered but where the struggle will be will be his month to month living expenses and bills. He will be out of work for at least 14 months and he could definitely use the help.
I know John has a lot of friends and family out there and people have been asking how they can help so this is why I am setting this up. Any amount helps and I know John and his beautiful wife Jacque, his daughter Kylee and his son Therran will appreciate it greatly.
Please feel free to share this post with anyone you feel would be willing to help.
On January 14th his biopsy results came back and let him know that his tumor was called Medulloblastoma. This is a cancerous tumor which is normally a pediatric type of malignant tumor and is very rare in adults. It normally starts in the region of the brain at the base of the skull but tends to spread to other parts of the brain and spinal cord. Needless to say this was not the news he wanted to hear but it was the cards he was dealt and he is fighting this thing with great optimism.
John's treatments are going to be very long and will not be easy. He had a port implanted for chemo (which is a surgical procedure) and started treatments in February. He is in the hospital (OHSU) 4 consecutive days each month getting treatment and was originally scheduled to do this for 12 months in a row. After the chemo treatments he was then going to start the radiation treatments. Radiation is 5 days in a row, each week for 6 weeks straight and this is done in Seattle. After doing the chemo in February and March the doctors now have decided it is better for him to go do the radiation now and will actually be starting that process in April and will be in Seattle for about 6 weeks while getting the treatment. They did this because it sounds like there is only a couple times a year they do this type of radiation so he had to do it now in order to get it done in time. Once he is done with that he will then come back to continue doing the other 10 months of chemo in Portland at OHSU.
As you can see this is going to be a very long, hard fought battle and this is why I am asking for help. John was lucky enough to have good insurance and a lot of medical bills are being covered but where the struggle will be will be his month to month living expenses and bills. He will be out of work for at least 14 months and he could definitely use the help.
I know John has a lot of friends and family out there and people have been asking how they can help so this is why I am setting this up. Any amount helps and I know John and his beautiful wife Jacque, his daughter Kylee and his son Therran will appreciate it greatly.
Please feel free to share this post with anyone you feel would be willing to help.
Organizer and beneficiary
Stuart Lee
Organizer
Happy Valley, OR
John Mcelhaney
Beneficiary
