<div>My story goes back five years when our little Boston Terrier, Celest (pictured in this fundraiser), found what turned out to be a tumor on my right breast. I went through an intense treatment which included surgery, many rounds of chemotherapy and physical therapy to repair surgical damage to my right armpit due to the mastectomy. The recovery was slow but I was able to regain normal usage of the affected areas. Thankfully, that bout of cancer had not spread to any lymph nodes. Things returned to normal and life was good...or as good as one who went through cancer treatment can see it.
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<div>Sadly, this is where the story takes a turn.
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<div>About 16 months ago a suspicious mole was found on my left flank that turned out to be malignant melanoma. More surgery was required to remove the affected tissue and surrounding margins but it was found to have spread to the sentinel nodes in my left armpit. The nodes were removed and tests showed that they contained cancerous cells. No treatment was done as the doctors wanted to adopt a "wait and see" attitude and it appeared that everything was fine.
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<div>Nothing turned out to be fine.
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<div>In December of 2023 I took a fall while walking the same dog, Celest, and I fell on my left side. Upon checking myself for injury, I felt an odd lump under my left armpit that didn't quite seem right but I chalked it up to being some light trauma due to the fall so I didn't mind it much. A few weeks later the lump was still there and I got concerned so I made an appointment with my doctor. He was suspicious about and ordered an ultrasound and mammogram of my left breast and surrounding areas. The mammogram came back negative for breast cancer which was a relief but the ultrasound of the axillary lymph nodes showed a mass of considerable size. A biopsy was ordered and after a few intense days of waiting we got the news we didn't want to see: Metastatic Melanoma.
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<div>My cancer has returned and it has spread. Where and how badly we are uncertain of.
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<div>As of the time of this writing - and it will be updated - a PET scan and a brain MRI have been ordered to see just how far it has spread. I will be able to give more information once it is available to me.
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<div>This is where you come in. Medical treatment for cancer is extremely expensive and I will need any assistance you can give should you find it in your heart to help out.
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<div>I do not know where this bout with cancer will take me but three times with it is three times too many and I wouldn't want anyone to have to endure the mental anguish, the sleepless nights and everything else that comes with this kind of diagnosis.
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<div>Thank you for reading and if you decide to donate I will be eternally grateful.
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<div>Update: 01/31/2024:
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<div>The first appointment with my oncologist resulted in a confirmation of metastatic melanoma. An MRI is scheduled for 02/10/2024 to determine if the melanoma has spread to my brain. We will be going with immunotherapy to treat the cancer and hopefully eradicate it. How much of the drugs are required will depend on the brain spread. If it hasn't gone to my brain then it will require less. If it has it will require more. And as with any kind of medication, more means a higher chance of bad side effects. With immunotherapy there can be any number of serious side effect with developing Type 1 diabetes. We will have to see how I do down the road to determine if it will have an effect.
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<div>I will be getting a port surgically put in place in my chest so the medication can be administered directly. This should be happening within the next few weeks or less. I've already spoken to the surgeon about this and appointments are pending.
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<div>I do not know where this journey is going to end or how long it is going to last but I am thankful to my friends and family as well as everyone who has given me assistance along the way. I love you all.
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<div>And so does Celest!
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</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/77911623_1709326114803702_r.jpeg" width="100%" />
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Anonymous

Kyiv Erdam

Spoonie Cook

Robert Doe

Conlin Ferrell

Randy Meyer

Tara Tremblay

Medical Assistance with Recurring Cancer

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

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Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

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GoFundMe Employees

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Mark Rieth IP Address

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Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

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checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

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EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

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US Donation Upsell audience 

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International Only

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braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

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Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

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Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

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Posters INTL

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iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

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Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

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UC Tipping v20250115 International

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Android at or above 12.2.0

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Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

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start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

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AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

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GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

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CH Donation Upsell audience

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Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

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Survicate

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Non-charity fund

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Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

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PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Medical Assistance with Recurring Cancer

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