Navy Veteran Fighting The Big C.... #DavidStrong

David Summers is a proud United States Navy Veteran who served 3 tours in the Middle East. He has been married for 21 years this coming July to Rhonda Summers. They have 2 children, Kylie (20) and Bryce (17). David was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and grew up in the Dripping Springs area. David and his family are currently residing in New Braunfels, Texas. David had no major medical concerns until April 2023, when he was diagnosed with Stage 1 Colon Cancer following his first routine colonoscopy through the Veterans Affairs (VA). He was then immediately scheduled for colorectal surgery to remove the cancerous 5CM tumor. Five inches of his colon was removed during this procedure. David was hospitalized for a week in the Temple VA hospital. Due to complications from the surgery and being discharged without any antibiotics, David was then readmitted to the San Antonio VA for an additional two weeks. There they ran additional scans and found a small 8mmsized tumor on his liver. This was passed off as nothing serious. David was discharged and sent home to continue his Five-year cancer monitoring schedule on any further growth.

The VA scheduled more scans the following October and learned the tumor on his liver grew from 8mm to 2.7 CM. He was then scheduled for a biopsy of the liver and a PET scan to confirm the colon cancer had spread. The results indeed came back positive, and David was diagnosed with Stage IV B Metastatic colon cancer. The colon cancer had spread to his liver, liver lymph nodes, and his right hip bone. A chemo port was placed immediately, and David was put on an aggressive treatment of chemo. One of the drugs was called Avastin. Due to the complications from the original surgery and finding out the anastomosis of the colon was not completed correctly; David was admitted to the ICU for 2 weeks due to a perforation on his colon. Due to the high risk of not healing properly and quickly, the doctors were unable to operate. David was also taken off chemo for 6 weeks for his colon to fully heal.

With all the mishaps in processes and communications from the VA, David proceeded to make a Second Opinion appointment at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas, utilizing his own private insurance plan. David is looking to raise money to help get the highest care of treatment he needs to avoid any more complications related to his colon cancer. Treatment will be ongoing, with numerous trips to Houston for treatments and another surgery coming in April/May timeframe. At that time, they will be completing a liver resection as well as correcting the anastomosis of the colon. This will be an 8-hour procedure.

David needs all the help he can get financially. Everything helps to support David extend his longevity of life, which only the proper treatment from MD Anderson can dispense. MD Anderson is extremely expensive with insurance or not. We hope everyone can find it in their hearts to help support David in his time of need.

#DavidStrong