Raymond Strong
Hi everyone, as many of you who know me know about my best friend Alexa Misiano and her mother Sharon Michalski. I have known her and her family my entire life. Well, about a month before my own cancer diagnosis, Alexa's younger brother found out he had cancer and was in for the fight of his life. Their family is my second family and they are in need of some help.
In April of 2016, Alexa's 22 year old brother Raymond went to the ER for pain in his groin. He was seen by a radiologist who said he "saw something" in his testicle. He gave his mother a phone number to a urologist and told them to make an appointment. A week later he had the appointment with a urologist and was misdiagnosed. The urologist "examined him" gave him antibiotics and just sent him home.
8 months later, in early December of 2016, he began complaining of severe lower back pain. On New Year's Day of 2017 they ended up back in the ER for the severe lower back pain. They did a CT scan and found masses all over his body. He was admitted immediately for 3 weeks to Inspira Hospital of Vineland, NJ. They did surgery to remove it. He began recieving Chemo Therapy around January 7th in the hospital. He was released from the hospital and able to finish the remaining 3 months (5 days a week for 5 hours) of his chemo at Inspira Frank and Edith Scarpa Regional Cancer Pavillion.
A month after he finished his chemo, he recieved another CT scan which showed one tumor on each lung and a tumor in his stomach. He was then sent to Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ where he had two more surgeries within 6 weeks of eachother to remove these tumors. After his lung surgery he came home, wasn't eating and he still had constant severe pain.
He woke up one morning and the entire right side of his face was swollen and in excrutiating pain. So his mother took him back to the ER at Inspira Hospital in Vineland, NJ. They did more CT scans and brought him by ambulence back to Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ. He was there for a week and they told his family that they had to bring him to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ for special treatment. They did 8 radiation treatments on his face to get rid of the tumor. His mouth was badly burned from the treatments. He has received two rounds of chemo already but cannot finish his treatments until his mouth heals. He also needs to receive a bone marrow transplant which has been postponed until his mouth is fully healed. He has currently been in this hospital for 39 days with no real end in sight. He is in constant pain every day, even with all the medications he is on.
As a mother myself, I can not even begin to imagine the absolute heartbreak of watching my child go through all that this young man has gone through at such a young age. No human deserves this and no mother should have to watch her son day in and day out suffer as much as Raymond does.
This has completely taken a financial toll on their family. His mother, who is a single mom, is unable to work because she commutes the two hours from her home to the hosptial 7 days a week. She spends every moment with her son to ensure he is recieving the best care possible. Also, Raymond has medical bills that his health insurance is refusing to pay.
Cancer is such a debiliating disease. When someone has cancer, the whole family and everyone who loves them does too.
Please, consider donating. Any amount will help. Also, please share. The more we work together, maybe one day we can finally live in a world without cancer.
Thank you.
Caitee Donovan
