Justin's Cancer Fundraiser Fund
My name is Justin. I was diagonosed on December 29, 2014 at the age of 28, with a very rare form of Germ Cell Cancer which caused a very large mass to grow in my chest. I completed 4 rounds of chemotherapy in San Antonio, Texas between January 2015 and March 2015 in hopes to reduce the size of the mass but it continued to grow at 1 cm per month and continued to crush my heart and pancake my lung. It was crushing me from the inside, out. The doctors in San Antonio wanted to do a bone marrow transplant on me, but by this time, my body was too weak to endure something like that and we all knew that I would'nt live thru it. So my family and I made the decision to get a second opinion from Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in Chicago, Illinois.
At the end of March we traveled to Chicago to CTCA and received a second opinion from a team of awesome doctors.
On April 14, 2015, I had a major surgery to remove the big mass in my chest which by this time was 19 1/2 cm round and weighed close to 12 pounds. The surgery was a success and 8 days later on April 22, 2015, I was deemed Cancer Free.
Things seemed to be looking good and I was feeling great and my 2 month check up in June 2015 went good with no big concerns.
Then when I went back for my 4 month check up in August 2015, I was told that another mass had formed in my lung and it would have to be removed as soon as possible since the type of cancer that I have, grows very rapidly. So I returned to Chicago on August 27, 2015 to have a second surgery to remove the most current mass that been found. During this surgery, the doctor discovered that this mass was not in my lung per say, but it had attached itself to the outside of my lung, wrapped itself around my diaphragm and was kissing my liver and so part of my diaphragm had to be removed and rebuilt with cadiver skin, two small parts of my lobes in my lung were removed and my liver was shaved in order to rid my body of the cancer mass.
It worked, because on Septemeber 30, 2015, I was deemed cancer free for a second time and what we thought was going to be the last time. I did have to receive from October 2015 to November 2015 preventative pin point radiation on my abdomin area just to be on the safe side and to hopefully kill any small cells that weren't taken out during surgery, and the radiation treatment went well.
Well with cancer, you never know when it will come back or if it is ever really gone, but you go on with your life and live it to the fullest every day because you dont know what your future holds, and this is what I did. I got into a good routine, living life, enjoying life and making new dreams and goals for myself.
Then at the end of November 2015, I thought I had a pulled groin muscle and babied it and waited for it to heal on its own since I had recently completed the radiation, I didn't think twice about it being anything but a pulled groin muscle, but as time went on, my groin wasn't healing and it was becoming harder to walk due to the pain. So on January 13, 2016, I went to a emergency room here in San Antonio to be looked at, and this is when they gave me the news that my CT scan of my hip looked like it had a cancer lesion in it and they informed me to get back up to CTCA as soon as possible to be treated. I didn't believe what the doctor was saying because of the mixed diagnosis that the doctor was implying. But I did as he said and made arrangements to be seen at CTCA again by my doctors.
On January 27, 2016, my doctors at CTCA in Chicago informed me that my cancer is back in full bloom and the cancer is in several of my bones, my tail bone, my hip socket, and my lungs. They said that the course of treatment at this time is for me to do chemotherapy again once a week for 2 months and then we will check at that time to see if the chemotherapy is working. They gave me a 30 % chance of a remission rate with the chemotherapy treatment and if it does not work, then research study treatments will be sought out along with the genomic testing of my tumor tissue for a treatment regimen will be tried, and if any treatment matches come back confirmed, which we have faith that there will be, they will try that treatment regimen also.
On February 5, 2016, I will be starting the first chemotherapy regimen and only God holds my destination. I am not scared of what the outcome of all of this will be as I have a very strong and open relationship with God and I believe that he knows what is in my best interest. I believe when you have Faith in God, he will not let you down and my Faith in him is very honest and strong.
On February 19th, I will be 30 years old and I don't know what my future holds at this time but I do believe that I will be a whole man again when this cancer is gone. As to then, I will continue to pray to, believe in, have faith in, cherish him, and most of all, love my God.
For those who know the type of person that I am, I have a very hard time with asking for help from anyone, if it be for money or just needing something done around the yard. So this whole fundraising process is very awkward and new to me. I'm ususally the one that is giving, I'm not usually the one that is receiving. But I know that in order for my family and myself to get through this part of my treatment, we are going to need help with the travel expenses that will be occuring during my weekly trips to Chicago for my chemotherapy treatment, we will also need help with medical expenses/ medications that are adding up and will be adding up until my $6000.00 deductible is met on my medical insurance along with my monthly medical insurance premium.
My Family and I understand that not everyone is in a place in their life that allows them to donate at this time and we completely understand this, so if you are one of these people, please just say a prayer for me and my family and keep us in your prayers. We appreciate more than words can express, you just taking your time out for us.
We will keep each and every one of you in our thoughts and prayers daily and God Bless You All.
Sincerely,
Justin
* JUSTIN STRONG *