Join Troy's Fight: Stage 4 Cancer

Hello, this is Sheila, Troy’s wife. Troy is a father of 4 beautiful adult children. A father in law to one amazing daughter in law and a soon to be a father in law again to another wonderful young lady. The icing on the cake, he will be a grandpa (times 2) in the fall.

Our life was flipped upside down in Jan 28, 2025 when he pointed out a lump on his neck to the doctor. This led us to a surgeon, then to a CT and biopsy. When they did the CT on his neck before they did the biopsy, they found a mass on his brain. This led them to do an MRI of his head which confirmed there was a small mass on his left occipital lobe of his brain.

Due to MYChart (good and bad app for sure) we were able to read the results from the radiologist which they stated the masses appear to be cancer. We knew that because it was in his lymph nodes and on his brain he was stage 4 and we assumed it was lymphoma.

The Sunday after the biopsy Troy was in tremendous pain. Knowing he probably had cancer, still nothing official, we brought him to the ER. The doctor upon examining Troy had him lay down and then we saw it, the left side of his stomach was bigger than the right. There was a mass. The doctor was able to put his hands around the mass and said it was the size of Troys head. We were shocked, how did we not see that or notice that. This finding led us to having a CT of the abdomen and there it was, a 22cm mass in his kidney. The ER doctor said Troy more than likely has kidney cancer considering the size of that mass it was the origin of it all.

Feb 25, 2025 MyChart showed the biopsy results, it was Clear Cell Renal cancer. It is stage 4. It has a mutation that makes it aggressive. The treatment is radiation (on his neck and brain) and immunotherapy. He will have 4 rounds of 2 drugs of immunotherapy every 3 weeks and then after that he will have the one drug monthly for the rest of his life.

He has had 5 days of radiation on his neck. He has had 3 days of radiation on his brain. He has had one round of immunotherapy. He is very anemic so he has also had 1 round of iron infusion.

Each of the visits bring more cost, medical bills and or gas. He feels the burden of this is and how it would affect us. It makes him question getting the treatment/meds he needs due to the potential cost it brings. This will take him away from work and his everyday life but Troy is trying to remain positive and strong so the less stress on him the better. We appreciate the continued thoughts and prayers for the Troy as he battles through this.

Any donation is appreciated to help with hotel stays, gas, meals, unforeseen medical bills, etc. If you are unable to donate, we understand