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Help Shawn fight cancer

My brother, Shawn, has kidney cancer. Now that you know, please read below. So here’s the thing about Shawn – he’s a fighter, been fighting his whole life. If you know us, then you know we didn’t always have the “best” childhood/home life. Our life, at times, was filled with abuse and fear to the point that we didn’t even want to go home. But we were strong, determined, courageous, and we lived through it and came out on the other side. Shawn proudly graduated high school, something he wasn’t always sure he would do. Shortly after high school, Shawn started being sick frequently to the point where he would have to go to the Emergency room often. When he was 19, he has his appendix and gallbladder removed in hopes to solve the problems. But that did not help. For years, he was sick and more often than not, in extreme and dilapidating pain. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong with him for quite a few years and in 2005, the pain and sickness started increasing at a rapid rate. In 2007 the doctors finally found that he had pancreatitis and would have to have his pancreas removed, (along with his spleen, and a one foot of his small intestine), thus possibly leaving him as a diabetic for the rest of his life. The doctors did an ilet (eyelet) cell transplant along with the surgery, to prevent diabetes and from then on Shawn has had a myriad of medication to take daily – one medication being bile in pill form as his body no longer has the ability to produce it. Once the ilet cells ran out, Shawn became a Type 1 diabetic. Ideally, the surgery would have helped, and it did, for a time. However, life happens and it didn't take long for Shawn to start being sick again and having the extreme pain return. There were times that he wanted to give up on life. The pain that he has and does live with on a daily basis is something unimaginable to probably most people, but he lives with it. Shawn has overcome so much in his life, from our childhood, to addiction, homelessness, divorce, all the while fighting with is body to just not be sick anymore. And now he has kidney cancer. Thankfully, the cancer has been caught in enough time, so he is stage 1. The doctors are hopeful that they will remove the kidney with ease and he will not even need to have chemo or radiation. While this is excellent news, and will hopefully ease some of his pain, it will not come without a price. Insurance rules and coverages are much different in Idaho where he lives, and there are many things that won’t be able to be covered for the surgery, along with his longtime girlfriend, Jessie, having to take time off of work to help in his recovery. This surgery will put them a few thousand behind. Having all the medical issues has also made Shawn permanently disabled and unable to work. So what’s the point, right? The point is that Shawn hasn’t lived an easy life for sure, but the point is that he’s lived it – with strength, courage, and determination as he always has. He wakes up every day and faces his pain and lives through it. I don’t know that I would be that strong, to allow myself to live through that. But he does, he continues his life the best he can and in the most positive ways possible. Can we help him in some way? Can we try to cover at least some of the costs they will incur with his surgery? Listen, I know it’s a lot to ask people/friends/family/strangers for money. We are a proud family and pretty much never ask for help, especially Shawn. So can we help him, please? Can we try to put a smile on his face through his pain so he knows there are people who care? Any amount will help – and if you can’t donate then tell people about him, share this story, pray for him, and just keep him in your thoughts. Thanks for listening. Much Love, Jessica
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Donations 

  • Becky Fisher
    • $50 
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Jessica Hubbard
Organizer
Canandaigua, NY

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