Please Help Paramedic Alexei Turzhavskiy

My name is Brittany Spencer Turzhavskiy, wife of former FDNY Paramedic Alexei Turzhavskiy. After months of believing Alex has been struggling with orthopedic hip and back pain, we have learned that the source of his pain and discomfort has been an aggressive metastatic cancer with tumors in his spine, hip, liver, and scapula. For those who know my husband, you might know he is a very health-conscious man - he does not drink any alcohol, he exercises regularly (before his orthopedic struggles), he does not smoke and he uses sunscreen daily. This came as an absolute shock to all of us.

A little background:

Alex had hip surgery in January of last year and had to take leave from work while recovering. His recovery seemed to be going well and he had a scheduled MRI in early July. Late July he noticed his pain started to change, around the same time he was to return back to work. Alex loves his job working as a Paramedic, and was excited to start working at Station 43.

Unfortunately, this back pain was very severe and he did not think he could return to work. He had to resign from the FDNY. At the same time he had made an appointment with a physiatrist in September. Alex started nursing school in the meantime, and had problems going to class. Walking became very difficult. After reviewing the MRI from July, the physiatrist tried a pain management injection, which did not work well. The pain was getting more severe and a repeat MRI was ordered.

The MRI was denied. And appealed. And denied. And appealed. And denied.

His walk became a shuffle. He could not sleep. The pain was so severe he could not eat. He has lost about 20 lbs. He started using a cane to get around to offload the pain in his back. On Friday, 12/16 he told me he heard and felt a pop in his left hip while trying to make it to his car from taking his final exam . We went to the emergency room the next morning and was told he had cancer.

As of now, we do not know what type of cancer Alex has. He had spinal surgery on Tuesday 12/22 to remove some of the tumor and prevent damage to his spinal cord. He will be needing further surgery on his left hip (or what's left of it) next week.

We are starting this gofundme to help pay for medical/living costs. I started working as an RN about a year ago and have only about 2 weeks of time off accrued. I will be taking FMLA to be his caregiver in his recovery from surgery and cancer treatment. We appreciate any help we can get and send love to everyone during the holidays.