Pete Citro-Fighting the disease that never stops
Donation protected
As many of you know, we lost our sister, Laura, to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer in 1999. While we can't believe that it has been twenty years since our loss, her fight to beat cancer lives on in our family. In 2011, my younger brother, Pete was diagnosed with spindle/Squamish cell cancer (on his tongue). He fought cancer with 12 weeks of chemo, 37 radiation treatments, and 3 surgeries including a radical neck dissection. Pure hell but he fought hard and on June 17th of this year, he was able to celebrate 8 years of being cancer free.
Recently he posted on Facebook about his current condition. Please read below:
F***ing Cancer, The disease that never stops giving. They do not tell you about the future pain and tooth problems you will have after radiation treatment to your mouth. My mouth is in pain, and I am loosing my teeth. I cannot get my teeth pulled due to something called Osteoradionecrosis. I could loose my jaw. Now I need to have oral surgery and since it is dental work, it is not covered by my insurance. They will not do the surgery with out me paying $7286.60 upfront. As a Cancer survivor, who the hell has that kind of cash just lying around? So now I get to just sit in pain and bare it, or try to come up with the money before Dec 28th. I really do not know where to turn or what to do! It is so frustrating!
It is our hope that our community of friends and family can pull together to help him receive the medical treatments needed. So much is unimaginable for people who have never dealt with cancer, first and foremost, the pain associated with this disease, the fact that he can not open his mouth anymore than 22 mm, and the frustration of not being able to get this covered by insurance. I am sure the fact that the holidays are a few weeks away and he would like nothing better than to feel better, have quality time with his family and provide gifts for his three children.
We hope the holiday giving season calls you to help out our family during this time. I know our community of friends and family can pull together to help out my younger brother, Pete. Thank you so much.
Recently he posted on Facebook about his current condition. Please read below:
F***ing Cancer, The disease that never stops giving. They do not tell you about the future pain and tooth problems you will have after radiation treatment to your mouth. My mouth is in pain, and I am loosing my teeth. I cannot get my teeth pulled due to something called Osteoradionecrosis. I could loose my jaw. Now I need to have oral surgery and since it is dental work, it is not covered by my insurance. They will not do the surgery with out me paying $7286.60 upfront. As a Cancer survivor, who the hell has that kind of cash just lying around? So now I get to just sit in pain and bare it, or try to come up with the money before Dec 28th. I really do not know where to turn or what to do! It is so frustrating!
It is our hope that our community of friends and family can pull together to help him receive the medical treatments needed. So much is unimaginable for people who have never dealt with cancer, first and foremost, the pain associated with this disease, the fact that he can not open his mouth anymore than 22 mm, and the frustration of not being able to get this covered by insurance. I am sure the fact that the holidays are a few weeks away and he would like nothing better than to feel better, have quality time with his family and provide gifts for his three children.
We hope the holiday giving season calls you to help out our family during this time. I know our community of friends and family can pull together to help out my younger brother, Pete. Thank you so much.
Organizer
Lynn Citro Akers
Organizer
Truckee, CA