Please Help the McKeown Family
Donation protected
The Journey started in the summer of 2015 when Keegan became pregnant with their 3rd child. After a very frightening pregnancy and a traumatic delivery Keegan delivered little Max at 26 ½ weeks on Dec 10th 2015, weighing in at 2 lbs. 3oz. Max spent 95 days in the NICU, but has overcome many hurdles.
His immune system is so immature that visitors are limited since some colds/virus could be life threatening. Despite this, Max has done well and is adapting to his new home. He continues to grow bigger and stronger every day. He remains on home oxygen due to his chronic lung disease.
One week after Max came home, Pat (Max’s father), had a suspicious growth removed from his scalp. The results from the testing came back as malignant melanoma. He was immediately scheduled for PET and brain scans to check for metastasis. Two weeks after the mole was removed, Pat was back in surgery to fully remove the tumor under the mole. The tumor was much larger than they anticipated. (As you can see by the picture they had to take a lot of his scalp.) Even though it didn’t spread into his lymph nodes, because of the size of the tumor, the melanoma was graded as Stage IIC. This aggressive cancer has a high rate of recurrence, and has limited treatment options. Typical Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are not an option at this point. Pat’s best course of action is Immunotherapy with a drug called Interferon-A. Pat has chosen to go this route starting May 2, 2016. He will have to get daily infusions for one month then will be taking injections 3 times a week for an additional 11 months. During treatment, he will not physically be able to continue his job as a Catholic school teacher. The Catholic school system where he is employed does not have short term disability insurance, so the family will be without a second income. In addition, due to the early nature of their son Max’s delivery, Keegan is also on unpaid maternity leave. The side effects of this therapy is similar to chemotherapy but has been described as he will feel like he has full blown influenza for the next year. We are being very optimistic and pray that Pat will be able to tolerate this treatment with minimal side effects.
Any monetary help will be greatly appreciated, and will help defray the mounting medical bills, loss of Pat’s income and the cost of domestic/childcare once Keegan goes back to work in June. This family has gone through so much – please keep them in your prayers.
Thank you from the bottom of our heart and God Bless!!
His immune system is so immature that visitors are limited since some colds/virus could be life threatening. Despite this, Max has done well and is adapting to his new home. He continues to grow bigger and stronger every day. He remains on home oxygen due to his chronic lung disease.
One week after Max came home, Pat (Max’s father), had a suspicious growth removed from his scalp. The results from the testing came back as malignant melanoma. He was immediately scheduled for PET and brain scans to check for metastasis. Two weeks after the mole was removed, Pat was back in surgery to fully remove the tumor under the mole. The tumor was much larger than they anticipated. (As you can see by the picture they had to take a lot of his scalp.) Even though it didn’t spread into his lymph nodes, because of the size of the tumor, the melanoma was graded as Stage IIC. This aggressive cancer has a high rate of recurrence, and has limited treatment options. Typical Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are not an option at this point. Pat’s best course of action is Immunotherapy with a drug called Interferon-A. Pat has chosen to go this route starting May 2, 2016. He will have to get daily infusions for one month then will be taking injections 3 times a week for an additional 11 months. During treatment, he will not physically be able to continue his job as a Catholic school teacher. The Catholic school system where he is employed does not have short term disability insurance, so the family will be without a second income. In addition, due to the early nature of their son Max’s delivery, Keegan is also on unpaid maternity leave. The side effects of this therapy is similar to chemotherapy but has been described as he will feel like he has full blown influenza for the next year. We are being very optimistic and pray that Pat will be able to tolerate this treatment with minimal side effects.
Any monetary help will be greatly appreciated, and will help defray the mounting medical bills, loss of Pat’s income and the cost of domestic/childcare once Keegan goes back to work in June. This family has gone through so much – please keep them in your prayers.
Thank you from the bottom of our heart and God Bless!!Organizer and beneficiary
Barb Wickham
Organizer
Milwaukee, WI
Patrick McKeown
Beneficiary