Isaac's Cancer Fund #cancersux

The beginning of Isaac's cancer story begins on August 10, 2015. On this day, he was "bumped" from his current job where he based out of Chicago and I was beginning the start to a new school year teaching a new grade at a new school. On his way home, he complained about his back (as he has been doing for several months). Several hours later as I'm in a teacher meeting, I receive a text from him finally breaking down to go into the doctor. The doctor instantly realizes there is a large mass in his abdominal area and sends him to KCH Emergency Room for a CT scan. After this, Isaac was told nothing, but transported via ambulance to Lutheran in Fort Wayne. I was in the middle of back-to-school night meeting my awesome new 1st graders and their families when this was all happening. As soon as I could, I rushed to Lutheran, not realizing they had him in the oncology ward. Two more days passed filled with a variety of testing and many doctors coming in and out. I spent my days teaching and my nights driving to and from Fort Wayne. Our amazing family helped with the care of our 2 year old as well as her daycare provider. On Wednesday evening, we were shed some answers. We were told cancer and sent for ultrasounds. The results came back with testicular cancer. Isaac had a mass on his testicle, a 7 inch mass in his abdomin, a spot on his liver, and a spot on his lung. Surgery was scheduled for the following day to remove the mass on his testical as well as to put a stent from his kidney to his bladder. The mass was found to be encasing his right kidney, causing it to not function properly. Although the surgery took much longer than anticipated, it went smoothly and we were released from Lutheran the next evening. The pathology reports from Lutheran state that Isaac has non seminoma mixed germ cell stage IIIb cancer. We wanted a second opinion as we were not very pleased with the oncologist at Lutheran. This is when a family member introduced us to Dr. Kio out of Goshen Cancer Center. We met with his this week and were instantly hooked! He made us laugh, cry, and be thankful (but mostly laugh)! We are strong believers in the fact that in order to battle cancer, you must have a positive mind set and a kick a$$ support system. We are fortunate to have both! Isaac had a port placed Friday and begins his grumesome 9 weeks of chemo on Monday. After completion of chemo, we will need to go to Indy to have another surgery to remove the remainder of that giant mass in his abdominal area. He will also go thru a few more test this coming week, including a brain MRI to ensure the cancer hasn't spread.
Our hope is to raise funds to help with the medical cost of this journey. Although we may not know what lies ahead, we do know that the road will be long. Obviously Isaac is not working and being a teacher, I'm not usually the "sole provider" of our family. We are focused on conquering this monster and moving on to enjoy life to its fullest!
Our family consist of Isaac, myself (Caroline), and our 2 year old daughter Hadley. We can not thank everyone enough for the support, warm wishes, thoughts, prayers, frozen meals, dog sitting, and helping with Hadley to ensure her life stays some what "normal". We are thankful to have great jobs with amazing people to work with and surround us at this time. Our family and friends have continued to be the best back bone in helping us in any way they can! We will continue to share updates!