LBNY native needs your help fighting CANCER!

I am writing this to help my dear friend, Jody Katz.

During the past year, Jody has had his right leg amputated above the knee. Additional cancerous tumors surfaced which required surgical removal. Combined with the additional surgeries, Jody has undergone multiple chemotherapy and radiation treatments. While fighting for his life and the continued stress from the landlord trying to evict them from their apartment building, he has now lost his girlfriend of 23 years, because not only was she taking care of Jody, but she was helping care for her mother who is in a hospice in a nursing home. Jody has a home business and was working throughout this extended nightmare to take care of himself and his longtime girlfriend. However, surgeries, treatment and acute pain have significantly limited his ability to work.

Jody grew up in Long Beach New York. He loved surfing at Pacific Beach. Jody played high school football and played many years of men’s rec league flag football. Jody loved basketball and played in several community basketball leagues in Long Beach, while attending college at Plattsburg State.

Jody is a loving father of three and a great friend. His positive attitude through this nightmare is nothing less than Herculean!

WE ARE ASKING FOR FINANCIAL HELP FOR JODY TO CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE.

A chronology of his epic battle with cancer and the broken healthcare system is detailed below.

This started in November of 2020 when he was at a pre-op visit for his back and the doctor found a “bump” on his right ankle. He then had an appointment with his podiatrist and the podiatrist lanced the lesion. The area became an open sore that was painful and oozing. Then he had to start walking with a cane immediately because the pain was unbearable.

He went back to Lenox Hill after a few days for testing of this lesion, which led to a biopsy and then came back as cancer. He didn’t connect with the doctor at Lenox Hill and went to go and get a 2nd opinion at Sloan Kettering. They gathered up all his paperwork, necessary tests, reports and so on for an appointment at Sloan Kettering. They did their own testing and on 1/6/2021 he had surgery to remove this cancerous, oozing, painful tumor.

He was then sent to a wound care facility and resided there for 7 months and received excellent care which included skin grafts to the area of the surgery. He was doing great until one day the area the skin grafts weren’t working, started regressing and the lesion started to open again! After this, they started talking about possible amputation. Went back to Sloan. They started doing radiation, 1 hour/day, 5 days a week for 7 weeks. My friend Jody had a very hard time with this treatment and fell behind on work. The lesion was again biopsied after the radiation, and it again came back positive for cancer.

He decided on amputation. As they were preparing Jody for this amputation of his right leg, they kept postponing the surgery, they did more testing and finally said that Jody was good to go! Jody had his right leg amputated above the knee. Soon after the surgery 2 more tumors formed in his right leg! They sent him to a short care rehab at Cornell Weill and the purpose was literally to help him learn how to get in and out of a chair. He was sent home with a script for VNS and since the pandemic the staff was short and not well trained, they went through 4 different agencies. Due to the severity of his pain, lack of professional care and going over the 2-year mark, Jody fell behind on work and his rent.

Jody got back into rehab but another tumor developed on Jody’s right leg. Tumor number 4 was removed.

Jody continues to work hard two times a day in physical therapy and works closely with his occupational therapist. He will be receiving intermittent chemotherapy to prevent future cancers.

Thank you in advance!