Robbie Fisher's Medical Fund

Late October while at work my father, Robbie Fisher, thought he had pulled muscles in his chest and back. His employer sent him to an urgent care facility where they simply prescribed him muscle relaxers and told him to follow-up in a week. Just a couple of days later while on the road (he drives a semi most of the time) he started to cough up some blood. He called me to ask my opinion on what he should do, in which I told him to return to the urgent care facility before the recommended week. They finally did a chest X-ray, which showed pneumonia and a "possible" lung mass. They referred him to his primary care provider to follow-up, which they immediately sent him to the hospital for a CT scan. Our worst fears became a reality when the CT confirmed a lung mass. To say that our family's whole world was shook is a complete understatement. My father has no medical history and was not on any prescriptions prior to this as he has always been a very healthy person overall. 

Dad was quickly referred to a pulmologist and oncologist, where they performed a biopsy on the mass on 12/4/18. Ding! Ding! Ding.... cancer. He was diagnosed with stage 3-4 non-small cell lung cancer. His oncologist worked quickly with dad receiving his first round of treatments on 12/18/18 (was waiting for insurance approval) that consisted of 2 types of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The plan is to do 4-6 rounds of chemotherapy (every 3 weeks), but would remain on immunotherapy for possibly close to a year. 

In the meantime, he was referred to a pulmologist at IU Methodist in hopes of being able to remove part of the mass that was blocking his lower bronchiole, which was causing a partial lung collapse (what made him feel like he pulled muscles previously). They lasered the mass successfully on 12/28/18 and also confirmed that there was still pneumonia that was behind the mass within the partially collapsed lung. He received a round of IV antibiotics before leaving the hospital and was sent home with a prescription for more. 

The very next evening (12/29/18) dad had developed a high fever. If you know someone who has been through a battle with cancer then you know that fevers are very scary, especially while receiving chemo treatments. I contacted his oncologist and he recommended that dad go to the ER to get checked out. They admitted him to the hospital to receive IV antibiotics to try to get rid of the remaining pneumonia. He is currently still in the hospital (as of 12/30/18) and will remain there until he is fever-free for 24 hours.

He absolutely hates that he has to stay. He would love nothing more than to go home and get back to his normal life with his wife, 2 teenage grandchildren they have been taking care of for the past year, 4 dogs, and get back to work. This is a whole new lifestyle that was thrown our way that we all must try to get accustomed to no matter if we like it or not. 

With that being said, I found out that dad's employer doesn't offer any type of short-term disability or vacation time. Between the MANY doctor appointments, treatments, and surgeries (he has a port consultation on 1/3/19) the bills are starting to roll in and dad is in no condition to return to work at this moment. 

I ask that you please consider donating anything to help offset some of the medical costs and to keep him home a little longer, as he needs to learn to not be so stubborn and rest. Stubborn or not, I love my father and we will see that he will overcome this.