Kevin's fight against Brain Cancer
Donation protected
Kevin is battling brain cancer and we are making sure he isn't standing in the fight alone!
All money raised will help cover supplementary treatments (not covered by insurance) and living costs for Kevin and Nikki while he is unable to work.
UPDATE (Friday Oct 13): Kevin had an appointment with his oncologist yesterday to review his latest scan. On the positive side, the chemotherapy is effectively shrinking the tumour. Bad news is the tumour is still there. Doctor says he needs to continue chemotherapy until April. I think this fundraiser has come at just the right time to let Kev know he’s not alone and to give him and Nikki some much needed support. (Our original goal was 15K, but we now know their needs will be much higher as treatment continues until April 2018).
Nikki is currently working part time to be available to help take Kevin to his various appts. Until August 2017, Kevin was receiving some money from short term disability insurance, but was disqualified from long term disability because of his pre-existing condition. And in January 2018, Kevin will not be receiving any form of income.
Kevin's Medical Journey so far:
•Three years ago (Sep 2014) he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Oligodendroglio brain cancer after having surgery to remove a golfball sized tumour.
Kevin was given 3-4 years to live.
•He received 30 days of radiation followed by 6 rounds of chemotherapy.
•Thankfully, the treatments proved successful and he was told he was in Clinical Remission. Similar to regular remission, but because of the high chance of the cancer growing back he had MRI’s every 6 months.
•In a scan last December there was a bit of something showing that was so small they didn’t know if it was an anomaly or new growth from the tumour. They did another scan in March that showed a small tumour had grown and was considered fast growing so he started Chemo the day after getting those results.
•The first 2 rounds hit really hard and Kevin ended up in the hospital twice.
•The tumour has shrunk about 26% and the next results from an MRI arrive on October 12. We are hoping and praying for a good report! Until either the tumour is gone or the chemo stops working (which is very common) Kevin will continue treatment.
Personal Reflections from Kevin:
During my first fight I was forced to go through a very difficult time. I had to deal with the realities of death and our lack of control over our lives. I had to learn to understand God’s love in a totally different way - that I don’t think I could have otherwise - and also learn the beauty of life even if we don’t get to live to achieve everything we want to. In that time we moved into my parents basement because we couldn’t afford to pay rent and we didn’t know how long it would be before or if I would get back to work.
This time around we didn’t have to make any hard decisions. I was able to get short term benefits from my job that lasted until August and my wife went down to working 2 days a week so she has the flexibility to get me to all my doctors appointments and there in case I get sick again.
After the second time in the hospital Nikki and I agreed we needed to do more to fight the side effects of chemo. We started going for walks and hikes and exercise with what energy I had and also went to see a Naturopath Oncologist to get additional treatment. The Naturopath recommended a bunch of different supplements that he said would assist in treating my immune system and could help aid the effectiveness of chemo. All of course are very expensive and not covered by medical.
I’m very blessed that right now aside from some fatigue caused by chemo I’m actually doing very well physically. I’ve been able to do moderate work outs every day and even was able to run the Terry Fox Run in September. That was a big milestone for me and felt like slapping cancer in the face.
I don’t know how many more rounds of chemo I’ll have to go through but I do my best to stay positive and trust good things will come out if it all.
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers. It really does make this journey a lot easier!
All money raised will help cover supplementary treatments (not covered by insurance) and living costs for Kevin and Nikki while he is unable to work.
UPDATE (Friday Oct 13): Kevin had an appointment with his oncologist yesterday to review his latest scan. On the positive side, the chemotherapy is effectively shrinking the tumour. Bad news is the tumour is still there. Doctor says he needs to continue chemotherapy until April. I think this fundraiser has come at just the right time to let Kev know he’s not alone and to give him and Nikki some much needed support. (Our original goal was 15K, but we now know their needs will be much higher as treatment continues until April 2018).
Nikki is currently working part time to be available to help take Kevin to his various appts. Until August 2017, Kevin was receiving some money from short term disability insurance, but was disqualified from long term disability because of his pre-existing condition. And in January 2018, Kevin will not be receiving any form of income.
Kevin's Medical Journey so far:
•Three years ago (Sep 2014) he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Oligodendroglio brain cancer after having surgery to remove a golfball sized tumour.
Kevin was given 3-4 years to live.
•He received 30 days of radiation followed by 6 rounds of chemotherapy.
•Thankfully, the treatments proved successful and he was told he was in Clinical Remission. Similar to regular remission, but because of the high chance of the cancer growing back he had MRI’s every 6 months.
•In a scan last December there was a bit of something showing that was so small they didn’t know if it was an anomaly or new growth from the tumour. They did another scan in March that showed a small tumour had grown and was considered fast growing so he started Chemo the day after getting those results.
•The first 2 rounds hit really hard and Kevin ended up in the hospital twice.
•The tumour has shrunk about 26% and the next results from an MRI arrive on October 12. We are hoping and praying for a good report! Until either the tumour is gone or the chemo stops working (which is very common) Kevin will continue treatment.
Personal Reflections from Kevin:
During my first fight I was forced to go through a very difficult time. I had to deal with the realities of death and our lack of control over our lives. I had to learn to understand God’s love in a totally different way - that I don’t think I could have otherwise - and also learn the beauty of life even if we don’t get to live to achieve everything we want to. In that time we moved into my parents basement because we couldn’t afford to pay rent and we didn’t know how long it would be before or if I would get back to work.
This time around we didn’t have to make any hard decisions. I was able to get short term benefits from my job that lasted until August and my wife went down to working 2 days a week so she has the flexibility to get me to all my doctors appointments and there in case I get sick again.
After the second time in the hospital Nikki and I agreed we needed to do more to fight the side effects of chemo. We started going for walks and hikes and exercise with what energy I had and also went to see a Naturopath Oncologist to get additional treatment. The Naturopath recommended a bunch of different supplements that he said would assist in treating my immune system and could help aid the effectiveness of chemo. All of course are very expensive and not covered by medical.
I’m very blessed that right now aside from some fatigue caused by chemo I’m actually doing very well physically. I’ve been able to do moderate work outs every day and even was able to run the Terry Fox Run in September. That was a big milestone for me and felt like slapping cancer in the face.
I don’t know how many more rounds of chemo I’ll have to go through but I do my best to stay positive and trust good things will come out if it all.
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers. It really does make this journey a lot easier!
Organizer and beneficiary
Ben Woodman
Organizer
Vancouver, BC
Nikki Ballard
Beneficiary
