Lets fight with Titus
Donation protected
Hello my name is Jennifer. Just shy of 20 years Wendy (Titus’ mother) and I met in nursing school and we’ve been close ever since. I know the shock of this news has hit everyone this week and we all want to do ‘something’ to help. I set up this go fund me so we all have a place to donate to help lessen the financial burden for Sam and Wendy. I started it at $20,000 and we can adjust it as needed as we gain more information in the weeks and months ahead.
A little over a week ago, a trip to Urgent Care revealed a large mass wrapping its way around Titus kidneys. Upon biopsy, it was confirmed to be a Wilms tumor (stage 3).
For those of you who maybe don’t have Facebook, I will post a section from Titus’ mothers latest update:
At minimum our next 9 months will look something like this:
A minimum of 25 weeks of 3 different types of chemotherapies, each with its own researched, long term risk of seriously damaging vital organs; heart failure is on the table to give you perspective, so lifelong follow up for his heart will be required, reproductive issues, high risk for leukemia in the future, etc.
He will also have to have a very long and dangerous surgery. Remember this tumor is “atypical” for Wilms. For expectation management we were told to prepare for at least 12 hours of delicate and tedious surgery, given the very complex nature of this tumor, and all of the major vessels it is wrapped around, including the SVC and Renal vein to name two. Assuming he survives this very delicate and dangerous surgery (we fully trust God and our surgeons) he will then have at least a week or two of hospital recovery from that surgery, followed by abdominal radiation ☢️ and more chemotherapy. And this is assuming there are zero hiccups, zero additional hospitalizations, blood transfusions, or side effects… when even a fever of 100.4 is now considered a medical emergency for Titus, and we will have to bring him to the emergency room if he happens to get a fever as we come into cold and flu season. This also assumes he responds perfectly to the chemotherapy schedule currently laid out. Our weeks will consist of, at minimum, weekly visits to the cancer clinic for blood work and chemotherapy, regularly scheduled scans of Titus’s abdomen and heart. Constant monitoring and management of side effects and symptoms from treatment, and every slight fever meaning a trip to the ER (if the clinic isn’t open) for evaluation, IV antibiotics and potential hospitalizations.
Please continue to pray with us that we are up to the task laid out before us, that we will be strong in the Lord to fulfill all we are called to organize, assess, and expedite as we swim the rough waters ahead.
Again, more thanks to you all than I can rightly express! Your prayers continue to be our strength!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jennifer Smith
Organizer
Imperial, MO
Samuel Rico
Beneficiary