London Secor's Medical Fund
Donation protected
I have been lifelong friends with Art and Dee Dee Secor and their beautiful family. I have put this gofundme page together as a means for a bridge of financial help for the continued care and loving support for London Secor and the Secor Family.
Some of you have already been lucky enough to meet and know London Secor. She is 11 years old and is one of the toughest people I have every met. London is the beautiful daughter of Art and Dee Dee Secor. She is incredibly intelligent, caring and has a wonderfully, vibrant personality. Most little girls have the ability to play with friends, compete in sports, attend school and generally live thru their young adolescence without much of a care in the world. Unfortunately, London's path for the last 2 years has been very challenging and extremely emotional. Much more than any child should have to endure.
Back in April of 2015, London was experiencing severe pains in her lower body and doctors could not really pinpoint what the problem was. After many unsuccessful trips to multiple doctors, she was finally diagnosed with an extremely rare sarcoma that was wrapped around her pelvic bone. It was immediately recommended that London start intensive rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, in an effort to eradicate this agressive cancer that has a tendancy to spread to vital organs very quickly.
Sadly, London was not able to attend class for the rest of her 4th grade year. However, as a testament to her dilligence and committment to maintain a straight A average, before these life changing events - she was still promoted to 5th grade!
London continued to endure treatments and the unbearable side effects of those sessions, throughout the Summer of 2015. She never faultered in maintaining a positive attitude and a sincere willingness to beat this cancer.
In the late Fall of 2015, London was given a clean bill of health and pronounced cancer free! She was finally able to be a little girl again and attend her final year of Elementary School. She was also voted Student Body President by her peers and everything was looking up.
London continued with regular checkups and examinations with everything looking positive. However, in May of 2016, London and her family received the heartwrenching news that the sarcoma had returned.. Doctors at Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC felt immediate action needed to be taken.
The Secor Family began traveling the country and meeting with the foremost experts in Children's Oncology and Surgery. After many examinations and many different diagnosis and prognosis, the Secor's had almost given up hope of deciding the right path to treatment. All the while, London was experiencing excruciating pain, as her sarcoma was pushing up against her sciatic nerve. The pain got to the point that it would not stop and there was absolutely no relief, without the use of liquid morphine. It also quickly became the consensus amongst the experts, that chemotherapy was no longer an option..
The family ultimately made the decision to have a cutting edge surgery to remove London's pelvic bone and sacrum (a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine) at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. This surgery took place over the course of 3 days and multiple 10+ hr surgery sessions. The surgery also involved grafting parts of her fibia onto the remaining portion of the pelvic bone. The surgery was a success and the team of expert specialists was able to remove the sarcoma in it's entirety!
As you can imagine, the path to rehabilitation is a long and arduous one for London and her family. She remains in Rochester, MN with her family by her side. She is learning to walk again with the assistance of a walker and eventually a leg brace. The nerve damage from the surgery has created long term side effects that, absent of a medical breakthrough, she will live with for the rest of her life..
Art and Dee Dee also have a son, named Wilson. He is 10 years old. They are currently dividing and conquering with regard to their duties in Charlotte, NC and London's recovery effort in Rochester, MN. Dee Dee has not left London's side and will not until she comes back home in mid-October. The Secor's thankfully have health insurance. However, as we all know, health plans do not cover all expenses. They have millions of dollars in bills that are being accumulated, reviewed and portioned for payment by their insurance company. The rest is up to the Secor Family.
We all hope and pray this never happens to our family or anyone that is close to us. Art and Dee Dee have soldiered thru this process and dealt with the continuous anxiety and heartache that comes with such a life changing event. They have never put their hand out for support and would never even think to ask their friends and family for monies to cover these expenses that will easily extend into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
With that being said, I am asking our friends, family, co-workers and people that don't even know the Secor Family to find it within your heart to donate thru this gofundme page. Every little bit matters and makes a difference. Please share this on your facebook and linkedin pages and any other social media outlet you can find. As a whole we are strong and resliliant. Let's reach out and raise this family up and away from the financial burdens that lay ahead of them. Let them focus on the life that has been spared and the love that accompanies. Small gestures will together, make a monolithic difference. Thank you for your time and you consideration of this very worthy cause.
Rich Hughes
Family Friend
Some of you have already been lucky enough to meet and know London Secor. She is 11 years old and is one of the toughest people I have every met. London is the beautiful daughter of Art and Dee Dee Secor. She is incredibly intelligent, caring and has a wonderfully, vibrant personality. Most little girls have the ability to play with friends, compete in sports, attend school and generally live thru their young adolescence without much of a care in the world. Unfortunately, London's path for the last 2 years has been very challenging and extremely emotional. Much more than any child should have to endure.
Back in April of 2015, London was experiencing severe pains in her lower body and doctors could not really pinpoint what the problem was. After many unsuccessful trips to multiple doctors, she was finally diagnosed with an extremely rare sarcoma that was wrapped around her pelvic bone. It was immediately recommended that London start intensive rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, in an effort to eradicate this agressive cancer that has a tendancy to spread to vital organs very quickly.
Sadly, London was not able to attend class for the rest of her 4th grade year. However, as a testament to her dilligence and committment to maintain a straight A average, before these life changing events - she was still promoted to 5th grade!
London continued to endure treatments and the unbearable side effects of those sessions, throughout the Summer of 2015. She never faultered in maintaining a positive attitude and a sincere willingness to beat this cancer.
In the late Fall of 2015, London was given a clean bill of health and pronounced cancer free! She was finally able to be a little girl again and attend her final year of Elementary School. She was also voted Student Body President by her peers and everything was looking up.
London continued with regular checkups and examinations with everything looking positive. However, in May of 2016, London and her family received the heartwrenching news that the sarcoma had returned.. Doctors at Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC felt immediate action needed to be taken.
The Secor Family began traveling the country and meeting with the foremost experts in Children's Oncology and Surgery. After many examinations and many different diagnosis and prognosis, the Secor's had almost given up hope of deciding the right path to treatment. All the while, London was experiencing excruciating pain, as her sarcoma was pushing up against her sciatic nerve. The pain got to the point that it would not stop and there was absolutely no relief, without the use of liquid morphine. It also quickly became the consensus amongst the experts, that chemotherapy was no longer an option..
The family ultimately made the decision to have a cutting edge surgery to remove London's pelvic bone and sacrum (a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine) at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. This surgery took place over the course of 3 days and multiple 10+ hr surgery sessions. The surgery also involved grafting parts of her fibia onto the remaining portion of the pelvic bone. The surgery was a success and the team of expert specialists was able to remove the sarcoma in it's entirety!
As you can imagine, the path to rehabilitation is a long and arduous one for London and her family. She remains in Rochester, MN with her family by her side. She is learning to walk again with the assistance of a walker and eventually a leg brace. The nerve damage from the surgery has created long term side effects that, absent of a medical breakthrough, she will live with for the rest of her life..
Art and Dee Dee also have a son, named Wilson. He is 10 years old. They are currently dividing and conquering with regard to their duties in Charlotte, NC and London's recovery effort in Rochester, MN. Dee Dee has not left London's side and will not until she comes back home in mid-October. The Secor's thankfully have health insurance. However, as we all know, health plans do not cover all expenses. They have millions of dollars in bills that are being accumulated, reviewed and portioned for payment by their insurance company. The rest is up to the Secor Family.
We all hope and pray this never happens to our family or anyone that is close to us. Art and Dee Dee have soldiered thru this process and dealt with the continuous anxiety and heartache that comes with such a life changing event. They have never put their hand out for support and would never even think to ask their friends and family for monies to cover these expenses that will easily extend into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
With that being said, I am asking our friends, family, co-workers and people that don't even know the Secor Family to find it within your heart to donate thru this gofundme page. Every little bit matters and makes a difference. Please share this on your facebook and linkedin pages and any other social media outlet you can find. As a whole we are strong and resliliant. Let's reach out and raise this family up and away from the financial burdens that lay ahead of them. Let them focus on the life that has been spared and the love that accompanies. Small gestures will together, make a monolithic difference. Thank you for your time and you consideration of this very worthy cause.
Rich Hughes
Family Friend
Organiser and beneficiary
Rich Hughes
Organiser
Goose Creek, SC
Art Secor
Beneficiary