Love & Support For William's Cancer Journey

Hello, my name is Tina Talbert, and I am setting up a go fund me page for my dad, because we found out on June 29rh, 2022 that he has Oral and Maxillofacial squamous cell carcinoma. We went July 19th to see his two specialty surgeons at University of Tennessee Medical Center, and found out that his cancer is stage 4, which was of course a HUGE shock to me and my parents. I have put his story below, and hope that you can find it in your heart to donate to help with all of the unexpected expenses.

Ok family and friends, I have some news to share with you all that I have been trying to hold back from saying anything until I could get more information on it. For several months now, I have had a sore on my right cheek in my mouth. It started out small, so I tried to treat it as a canker sore which turned out to be much more than that. First, I went to my family doctor, then an ENT, and next my dentist who took an x-ray and saw that my right lower jaw bone was deteriorating. I was referred to an oral surgeon, who did a biopsy, which came back positive for squamous cell carcinoma. This brings us up to this week, in which we spent all day yesterday at University of Tennessee Medical Center, where they have the only doctors that can do the surgery I need. They are both professors there and came highly recommend, and are also the only surgeons within a 300 mile radius that can do what I need done for this type of oral cancer. Before we saw them, I had CT, PET scans, and xrays and all the other good stuff. Once I was finished with all of that, we went to see the oncologist and plastic surgeon, and found out that my cancer is stage 4. They went over the specifics of everything that they will have to go in and do, and after surgery, I will be in the hospital 7-10 days, three of which I will be in ICU, and the other 7 for round the clock observation to make sure there are no complications. I will have a feeding tube for at least a month. So that means we will have to stay in Knoxville for 3 or 4 weeks until they can remove the feeding tube. We are hoping they can do the whole surgery at once, but if not, after I heal they will have to go back in and replace my jaw bone, and I will have to go thru the same stay and feeding tube again. We are praying that my heart is healthy enough to go thru a 12 hour surgery to do the whole procedure at one time. We are going to need all the love and support we can get. We serve an awesome GOD, and we have all our faith in him, that he will get us thru these trying times.

The surgery (and possible second surgery) and after care will require extended stays in Knoxville for myself, my wife and daughter.

I will have to remain in Knoxville as long as the feeding tube is in place. There will be travel expenses, food, hotel and copays. Like the cancer, these expenses are unexpected and we would like to ask for your support to cover the costs. God bless you all for making it possible, and we just want to say thank you and God bless you in advance for your donations.