Mark Potter - cancer battle & making memories
Donation protected
Hello everyone, this is Delen Potter, oldest child and favorite daughter of Mark & Gail Potter.
So many people have been asking us what do we need or how can they help our family now since dad’s most recent cancer diagnosis. I’m starting this go fund me for my parents for two reasons.
1. Medical bills - there are lots of medical bills for dad. Not just bills because of his cancer, but also so many from when he’s hospitalized for other medical illnesses that come up in his everyday life. Dad is also on some very expensive prescription medication daily.
2. Travel/making memories fund. Mom & dad have been trying to get away for the last 3-1/2 years. Between covid & his cancer diagnosis, they just haven’t been able to. They won’t be taking any major trips as dad can’t be gone more than 7-10 days in between treatment cycles. But we would love to help them financially with day trips or even weekend getaways. Mom’s putting together a trip for them to see my brother soon.
My parents are so dedicated to the WNY community, they never hesitate to help where possible. It's now time that we show them some love and support in this time of need. We as a family hope that this will help cover some of the medical bills they will face, so that mom & dad can relax and have one less worry as dad fights cancer and beats this!!!!!!
Anything helps and the Potter family, thank you ahead of time for all of the love you’ve shown my folks.
From mom: For those of you that hadn’t seen my update last month, Mark’s official diagnosis as of August 25th is Stage 4 metastatic bladder cancer that has spread to his lymph nodes in multiple regions (neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis).
Basically, he’ll be receiving chemo once a week for 2 weeks and he’ll have the 3rd week off. Because of how aggressive this cancer is, we’ve been told Mark will need to do this the rest of his life.
Yes we have A LOT of medical bills, cancer isn’t cheap. It’s not just treatment costs, it’s hospitalizations for so many other medical issues Mark has had this year alone. The back to back (6 weeks apart) cellulitis infections that turned septic alone were costly. What didn’t help was his first hospitalization in April was while we were on vacation. We were out of network then….need I say more?
We’ve both been “medically retired” (I don’t like the term disabled), and only receive SSD. Unfortunately we’ve spent our savings and 401K while waiting for Mark’s long term disability case and SSD to be approved back when Mark originally got sick 7 years ago.
Mark has been medically retired for 7 years and I’ve been 12 years as of the other day. We’ve been so wrapped up with Mark’s health issues the last 7 years, that we just haven’t had the chance to get out and live our lives as (semi) empty nesters.
But we’ve decided it’s our time to live!!!!
BETTER YET……….WE’RE GOING OUT and MAKING MEMORIES!!!!!!!❤️❤️
Making memories fund….
…..Trip to see our son Aaron & fall foliage in the upcoming weeks.
…..Mark saw a pizzeria in NJ on TikTok that he wants to visit.
…..While we were in Kingston earlier this year for Aaron’s graduation from linemen school, his only wish after missing the graduation (he was in the hospital for 5 days with his first of two hospitalizations 6 weeks apart of each other with cellulitis that turned septic) was to see the HUDSON RIVER. Unfortunately Lola (our sometimes PITA GPS) had other plans and we just couldn’t get to it from where we were.
Ideally I’d love to arrange this as one whole getaway as it could very feasibly be done either while visiting Aaron or afterwards on our way home.
We’re looking for monetary donations to help with the cost of travel, hotels, gas and meals.
……We also plan on getting out more now that this is our kind of summer weather. Most of this past summer we were stuck in the house with the a/c on because it was to hot & humid, especially for Mark. Mark is starting to think of some day trips or weekend getaways we can do while the weather is nice. We all know winter will be here before we know it.
I really can’t thank everyone enough for all of your love and support these years!! ❤️ Without the support of our community, we wouldn’t be able to make any of this possible.
****For those that aren’t familiar with Dad’s story.
How it all started - September 2020
For those of you that haven't heard yet, Mark was diagnosed with bladder cancer in September of 2020. He had what was supposed to be outpatient surgery on September 17, 2020 to remove suspicious tissue that was found on the floor of his bladder in an earlier cystoscopy. Due to additional work that the surgeon had to do, he ended up spending the night. Unfortunately the next morning he ended up developing some complications that delayed his discharge until very late that night.
On September 30, 2020 we got the diagnosis...high-grade urothelial carcinoma that extends to involve localized superficial glands in prostate tissue. Bladder cancer!!!! Bladder cancer that is very aggressive and has a high reoccurrence rate. Because of those two factors, he'll have to undergo frequent testing. Every three months he'll need to have a cystoscopy to make sure no additional tumors have grown.
At this point he has continued to experience problems which are now resulting in additional tests. A second CT Scan last week showed that everything looked good post-op. He was supposed to begin chemo (once a week for 6 weeks they will fill his bladder with chemo that he needs to hold in his bladder for 1-1/2 - 2 hours) on November 4th, but because of the complications, they have to hold off on it until a urodynamic test can be done on November 9th.
This diagnosis and surgery isn't a one time deal, this is something that dad will need to be followed closely for the rest of his life.
Mom & dad are both "medically retired" as mom puts it, they both are unable to work because of their medical conditions and they both collect SSD. They are still paying off medical bills from when dad got sick 7 years ago for a knee that became infected for no reason whatsoever that turned septic. He was hospitalized 3 times over the course of 1-1/2 months and experienced every complication or side effect imaginable including kidney failure. At one point he was seeing over a dozen specialists. Due to this he wasn't able to return to work and became permanently disabled.
My parents have always been there for my brother Aaron & I as we were growing up. They continue to do so much for not only us, but for the community we live in. Mom started her non-profit, Mats for a Mission 7 years ago while dad was in the hospital battling his knee infection. They both have enjoyed spending time at the MFAM office with the members over the years. Dad is the best receptionist, always stopping people at the mall and telling them exactly what MFAM is all about. They also are very active in filling the little free food pantries throughout the area.
So many people have been asking us what do we need or how can they help our family now since dad’s most recent cancer diagnosis. I’m starting this go fund me for my parents for two reasons.
1. Medical bills - there are lots of medical bills for dad. Not just bills because of his cancer, but also so many from when he’s hospitalized for other medical illnesses that come up in his everyday life. Dad is also on some very expensive prescription medication daily.
2. Travel/making memories fund. Mom & dad have been trying to get away for the last 3-1/2 years. Between covid & his cancer diagnosis, they just haven’t been able to. They won’t be taking any major trips as dad can’t be gone more than 7-10 days in between treatment cycles. But we would love to help them financially with day trips or even weekend getaways. Mom’s putting together a trip for them to see my brother soon.
My parents are so dedicated to the WNY community, they never hesitate to help where possible. It's now time that we show them some love and support in this time of need. We as a family hope that this will help cover some of the medical bills they will face, so that mom & dad can relax and have one less worry as dad fights cancer and beats this!!!!!!
Anything helps and the Potter family, thank you ahead of time for all of the love you’ve shown my folks.
From mom: For those of you that hadn’t seen my update last month, Mark’s official diagnosis as of August 25th is Stage 4 metastatic bladder cancer that has spread to his lymph nodes in multiple regions (neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis).
Basically, he’ll be receiving chemo once a week for 2 weeks and he’ll have the 3rd week off. Because of how aggressive this cancer is, we’ve been told Mark will need to do this the rest of his life.
Yes we have A LOT of medical bills, cancer isn’t cheap. It’s not just treatment costs, it’s hospitalizations for so many other medical issues Mark has had this year alone. The back to back (6 weeks apart) cellulitis infections that turned septic alone were costly. What didn’t help was his first hospitalization in April was while we were on vacation. We were out of network then….need I say more?
We’ve both been “medically retired” (I don’t like the term disabled), and only receive SSD. Unfortunately we’ve spent our savings and 401K while waiting for Mark’s long term disability case and SSD to be approved back when Mark originally got sick 7 years ago.
Mark has been medically retired for 7 years and I’ve been 12 years as of the other day. We’ve been so wrapped up with Mark’s health issues the last 7 years, that we just haven’t had the chance to get out and live our lives as (semi) empty nesters.
But we’ve decided it’s our time to live!!!!
BETTER YET……….WE’RE GOING OUT and MAKING MEMORIES!!!!!!!❤️❤️
Making memories fund….
…..Trip to see our son Aaron & fall foliage in the upcoming weeks.
…..Mark saw a pizzeria in NJ on TikTok that he wants to visit.
…..While we were in Kingston earlier this year for Aaron’s graduation from linemen school, his only wish after missing the graduation (he was in the hospital for 5 days with his first of two hospitalizations 6 weeks apart of each other with cellulitis that turned septic) was to see the HUDSON RIVER. Unfortunately Lola (our sometimes PITA GPS) had other plans and we just couldn’t get to it from where we were.
Ideally I’d love to arrange this as one whole getaway as it could very feasibly be done either while visiting Aaron or afterwards on our way home.
We’re looking for monetary donations to help with the cost of travel, hotels, gas and meals.
……We also plan on getting out more now that this is our kind of summer weather. Most of this past summer we were stuck in the house with the a/c on because it was to hot & humid, especially for Mark. Mark is starting to think of some day trips or weekend getaways we can do while the weather is nice. We all know winter will be here before we know it.
I really can’t thank everyone enough for all of your love and support these years!! ❤️ Without the support of our community, we wouldn’t be able to make any of this possible.
****For those that aren’t familiar with Dad’s story.
How it all started - September 2020
For those of you that haven't heard yet, Mark was diagnosed with bladder cancer in September of 2020. He had what was supposed to be outpatient surgery on September 17, 2020 to remove suspicious tissue that was found on the floor of his bladder in an earlier cystoscopy. Due to additional work that the surgeon had to do, he ended up spending the night. Unfortunately the next morning he ended up developing some complications that delayed his discharge until very late that night.
On September 30, 2020 we got the diagnosis...high-grade urothelial carcinoma that extends to involve localized superficial glands in prostate tissue. Bladder cancer!!!! Bladder cancer that is very aggressive and has a high reoccurrence rate. Because of those two factors, he'll have to undergo frequent testing. Every three months he'll need to have a cystoscopy to make sure no additional tumors have grown.
At this point he has continued to experience problems which are now resulting in additional tests. A second CT Scan last week showed that everything looked good post-op. He was supposed to begin chemo (once a week for 6 weeks they will fill his bladder with chemo that he needs to hold in his bladder for 1-1/2 - 2 hours) on November 4th, but because of the complications, they have to hold off on it until a urodynamic test can be done on November 9th.
This diagnosis and surgery isn't a one time deal, this is something that dad will need to be followed closely for the rest of his life.
Mom & dad are both "medically retired" as mom puts it, they both are unable to work because of their medical conditions and they both collect SSD. They are still paying off medical bills from when dad got sick 7 years ago for a knee that became infected for no reason whatsoever that turned septic. He was hospitalized 3 times over the course of 1-1/2 months and experienced every complication or side effect imaginable including kidney failure. At one point he was seeing over a dozen specialists. Due to this he wasn't able to return to work and became permanently disabled.
My parents have always been there for my brother Aaron & I as we were growing up. They continue to do so much for not only us, but for the community we live in. Mom started her non-profit, Mats for a Mission 7 years ago while dad was in the hospital battling his knee infection. They both have enjoyed spending time at the MFAM office with the members over the years. Dad is the best receptionist, always stopping people at the mall and telling them exactly what MFAM is all about. They also are very active in filling the little free food pantries throughout the area.
Co-organizers (2)
Gail Potter
Organizer
Depew, NY
Delen Potter
Co-organizer