Justin Cowles fund for liver transplant costs

Update! What a journey it has been and the next chapter is here. After tons more chemo and a few other procedures Justin has been selected to be placed on a liver transplant list at Barnes-Jewish hospital in St. Louis. This is not an option that was thought was going to be feasible before but he has come so far not only is it feasible this will be the final step to CURE his cancer!

This will not come without major changes and sacrifices for Justin and the entire family. First a temporary relocation will be required to wait in St. Louis for a donor to become available. This wait is expected to be anywhere from 3 to 6 months with Justin going down to St. Louis as early as November, while Tory and the kids stay in Ak. Tory will fly down to join Justin if he gets the call for transplant before she can make it down. After surgery and healing adjusting to the regiment of a transplant will begin. With Tory by his side they are ready for the challenges but there will be a huge cost that strength cannot cover. I am asking you to consider donating to help them cover the mounting costs of this next phase.

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If you know Justin Cowles you know he does so much for his family, his friends, and his community. If someone is in need he does not hesitate to find a way to help and he is always giving back to the community. What many do not know is that for the past two years he has been fighting a battle against the nasty disease that is cancer. In February of 2021 he was given a very grim outlook and limited prospects of a long life, but he is beating all odds. The fight is far from over but he continues to amaze everyone, including the medical community. Unfortunately, there are only three clinics in the country that can provide the specific type of chemo treatment he requires. Thankfully one is in Portland, which thankfully is fairly close by Alaska standards. This requires him to travel to Portland twice a month for 2-4 days each round. He has done this for over a year all while maintaining family, friendships, a business, and community support. You would never know it by looking at him he is fighting so hard and maybe that is part of his success, maybe it is the support he has from his amazing wife making all changes at home to give him the support his body needs to fight, and maybe it is the power of prayers being sent up in his name. Whatever it is the fight is now becoming a financial burden and assistance is needed. Anything you can do to assist the family is greatly appreciated.

On February 25th of 2021 Justin was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. The disease had also spread to his liver. The cancer marker was at 5830, but is expected to be below 2 for a healthy individual. March 9th, 2021 was the first day of chemotherapy. One month later his CEA was down to 622! He had chemotherapy treatments every other week at Fairbanks Cancer Center until November of 2021, in anticipation of surgery on January 4th. January 4th, 2022 he had an eight hour surgery to place a hepatic artery infusion pump in the abdomen to send targeted a chemotherapy directly to his liver. At this time his CEA was down to 2.2!!! July 12th, 2022 he had a 13 hour surgery to remove 12 inches of colon and the entire rectum and have an ileostomy bag placed. December 7th, 2022 he began a new drug because his CEA was climbing to 156 and liver tumors growing again. January 4th, 2023 marked one year of every other week trips to Portland and a huge decrease in CEA, back down to 10.3! Surgery is scheduled for January12th, 2023 to reverse the ileostomy.

We will post updates as they become available. Thank you all for your support, your prayers, and any assistance you are able to provide.