Helping me beat cancer back into into remission!

Hello all!

If you don't know me, I'm Jake. If you do know me... I'm not sure if I should offer you condolences or congratulations!

I'm changing this up a bit, writing it from a slightly changed perspective, and adding more information.

About 5 years ago, started having digestion issues, constant heart burn, abdominal spasms that would put me on my knees with pain.

But things were inconsistent, and I was busy! The close people in my life woikd tell me to go to the doctor, so I'd arrange an appointment. But in 3, 4. 5 weeks when it was time, I'd feel better.

Until I didn't.

In January of 2023 I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

The tumor had grown, over the course of years, completely around my transverse colon, (LG. Intestine) just below and to the right of my sternum. It was about 3.5 inches long from side to side, and it had encircled and collapsed my Intestine.

My body didn't just stop trying to function though, so the digestion process continued. Or tried to at least.

The damaged tissue had ripped open, so I was leaking into my abdomen, as well as bleeding internally.

When I finally went to the ER, I was so bad that even now, the doctors font know why I was still alive.

I was sceptic, severely anemic, 70% compromised with pulmonary embolism, in severe cardiac distress, legs full of blood clots, and in intense pain. Unreal pain.

I had 7 serious health issues, of which 5 were each potentially fatal. And i had them all at the same time.

It took them a week of constant care just to get ne stabilized. I had an emergency thrombectomy to mechanically remove as many of the clots from my lungs as they could reach. The lower lobes were complete full, and the entire periphery of the upper lobes were full too. All those blood clots were causing a massive amount of resistance for my heart, so the right side was 50% enlarged and in critical condition.

The efforts worked though, and I stabilized, I even started to improve!

As the first week came to a close, they were preparing to send me home...

Until I went to the bathroom and the toilet was just filled with blood.

Week 2 started with a bowel prep and a scope the next morning.

Which resulted in the doctor and his assistant standing in my hospital room in the afternoon, dropping a nuclear bomb of information into the middle of my life.

Week 2 was spent deciding how to proceed.

The tumor had collapsed the Intestine, which caused all the other problems. But it had also grown back towards my liver, following the primary artery and vein that supply blood to my intestines.

Surgery wasn't an option. So it was a year of chemotherapy and blood tests and radiation and a few minor surgeries and a few major ones too.

In February of 24 I had my second major abdominal surgery to remove the tumor and the first half of my large intestine.

3 days later, the surgeon came into my recovery room and told me I was cancer free!

I soent 2 weeks in the hospital, making sure everything inside stayed together, and inside me.

Then I went home for another 5 or 6 weeks of recovery.

In May, I started pushing myself to begin rebuilding my strength and stamina.

In July I began looking for a job.

And on August 3rd, I received a secondary cancer diagnosis.

Different kind. Different spots.

Stage 3 peritoneal disease.

While th e stage was less severe, the kind of cancer was much worse.

So the machine started up again.

Chemo.

Meds.

Neuropathy.

Nausea.

Pain.

And fear.

2 different cancers in less than 2 years.

And now here i am. Here we are.

I am asking for help so that i have something to rely on after this next surgery and recovery is complete.

It looks like it will happen the first week of April, which means I'll be healing and recovering thru the summer.

I believe I'll be returning to active work in August or September.

Again.

Just a year later.

And hopefully, done with cancer for good.

So this is my ak for help. Many of you have already helped me with donations.

Id ask you to just share my link, spread my story.

With all the people telling me to write a book, maybe I'll start doing that while I go thru the next months of this process!

Thank you for reading this far. Thank you for helping me.

Thank you for getting the word out with me. For me.

Every bit of donation is being used carefully, giving me another day or week or hour of stability and reducing the anxiety about money a little more.

Your donations mean I can prioritize healing fully before being required to get back to working.

Heal first

Then work

And spend the rest of my life trying to pay this gift forward.