Josh's Fight Against Cancer
Donation protected
For those of you who know him and even those who don't, Joshua Kelly was diagnosed with an aggressive and rare form of cancer called Ewing Sarcoma/PNET (Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor) on Wednesday, July 25th. Josh is 32 with a wife and a step-son and he just welcomed a baby girl into the world 8 months ago.
These past three weeks has been one of the hardest of our lives. Joshua went to the hospital three weeks ago, because he was unable to breath. His wife, Marissa, rushed him to the ER in Charlotte, North Carolina. They were originally told that Joshua Kelly had broken his rib in a biking accident and there was a pool of blood in his chest from the trauma.
The doctors told them that they’d like to do a CT to determine how much of what they saw was blood. After waiting there thinking everything was okay, the doctors came back and told Josh that he had a tumor the size of a baseball in his chest wall, but that most of these things are benign and they didn’t feel it was in need of an emergent MRI at the time. They referred him to a cardio-thoracic surgeon.
Josh met the surgeon a week after his hospital visit and was told that he needed an MRI and a biopsy to rule out cancer. The MRI was scheduled a week later and the biopsy a few days after that. When the MRI results came back, they Josh that they suspected he had Lymphoma and the tumor was compressing his spinal cord. Josh was then referred to a neurosurgeon who was able to meet within 2 days.
The Neurosurgeon told Josh that he thought he had lymphoma and that this is not the worst news he could get because Lymphoma reacts well to treatment. Then 5 days after the biopsy, Josh and his wife got a call and found out that Joshua has a rare and aggressive form of cancer. That it is either a Ewing Sarcoma or a Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor. Both of these cancers are in the same family and are extremely rare in adults and there’s little to no information out there for his age group. The surgeons who originally saw him cannot treat him and he was left searching the country for any doctor, who knows enough about this cancer in adult patients, to help without completely disabling him.
A family member asked an oncologist friend, “who will be the best to treat this type of cancer?” He recommended MD Anderson in Houston, TX. Josh and his wife looked up the hospital and found out that they have a reputation for being the best at treating rare and difficult cancer’s. They have also worked with this a lot and they team up the adult oncologists, with the more experienced pediatric oncologists, to work on the adult cases of this particular cancer. The hospital originally had Josh scheduled for Aug 10 but the Dr. he is assigned to saw his case and moved Josh’s appointment to this upcoming Friday!! Josh and his family are heading to Houston this Thursday for his appointment on Friday.
Many people have reached out asking how they can help. We are asking for donations to help with travel expenses and medical bills. Anything helps! Weather you donate or not, we ask that anyone who comes across this, shares it. We appreciate and love you all so much! The support we have already received is amazing and we are truly grateful.
These past three weeks has been one of the hardest of our lives. Joshua went to the hospital three weeks ago, because he was unable to breath. His wife, Marissa, rushed him to the ER in Charlotte, North Carolina. They were originally told that Joshua Kelly had broken his rib in a biking accident and there was a pool of blood in his chest from the trauma.
The doctors told them that they’d like to do a CT to determine how much of what they saw was blood. After waiting there thinking everything was okay, the doctors came back and told Josh that he had a tumor the size of a baseball in his chest wall, but that most of these things are benign and they didn’t feel it was in need of an emergent MRI at the time. They referred him to a cardio-thoracic surgeon.
Josh met the surgeon a week after his hospital visit and was told that he needed an MRI and a biopsy to rule out cancer. The MRI was scheduled a week later and the biopsy a few days after that. When the MRI results came back, they Josh that they suspected he had Lymphoma and the tumor was compressing his spinal cord. Josh was then referred to a neurosurgeon who was able to meet within 2 days.
The Neurosurgeon told Josh that he thought he had lymphoma and that this is not the worst news he could get because Lymphoma reacts well to treatment. Then 5 days after the biopsy, Josh and his wife got a call and found out that Joshua has a rare and aggressive form of cancer. That it is either a Ewing Sarcoma or a Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor. Both of these cancers are in the same family and are extremely rare in adults and there’s little to no information out there for his age group. The surgeons who originally saw him cannot treat him and he was left searching the country for any doctor, who knows enough about this cancer in adult patients, to help without completely disabling him.
A family member asked an oncologist friend, “who will be the best to treat this type of cancer?” He recommended MD Anderson in Houston, TX. Josh and his wife looked up the hospital and found out that they have a reputation for being the best at treating rare and difficult cancer’s. They have also worked with this a lot and they team up the adult oncologists, with the more experienced pediatric oncologists, to work on the adult cases of this particular cancer. The hospital originally had Josh scheduled for Aug 10 but the Dr. he is assigned to saw his case and moved Josh’s appointment to this upcoming Friday!! Josh and his family are heading to Houston this Thursday for his appointment on Friday.
Many people have reached out asking how they can help. We are asking for donations to help with travel expenses and medical bills. Anything helps! Weather you donate or not, we ask that anyone who comes across this, shares it. We appreciate and love you all so much! The support we have already received is amazing and we are truly grateful.
Fundraising team: Team Josh (3)
Emily Rachel
Organizer
Phoenix, AZ
Joshua Kelly
Beneficiary
Joshua Kelly
Team member
Marissa Trefry
Team member