Hello, my name is Shane Ward. I am a 32 year old father to a wonderful daughter, two wonderful stepdaughters, and a large 3 year old German shepherd. As well as a recovering addict of 3+ years. This summer I was diagnosed with stage 3B/4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Starting around a year or so before my diagnosis, I started noticing strange medical issues on and off that I didn't think too much of. I had been working a lot and put off going to a doctor because they were fairly intermittent and usually didn't seem too serious to me at the time. Things like my legs swelling up for a month or two, low energy levels, issues with being able to focus on my tasks at work, etc. All of these issues happened separately and for the most part would go away after a bit. Most of the time, I just assumed these issues were stemming from my past issues with addiction and the damage I had done to my body or stress from my job. By early spring 2023, I had developed a cough that I didn't think too much of and my energy levels were completely depleted. I started to notice that while sleeping, I'd be soaking in sweat. And walking up a single flight of stairs would leave me completely out of breath. And I realized that over the previous 6-8 months, I had lost almost 100 pounds without any type of diet or exercise. And unfortunately at the end of April, I was unexpectedly let go from my job. By this point, my cough had been getting progressively worse over the last 8 weeks and was starting to worry me. And now that I was no longer working long hours, I decided to go to urgent care, where I was referred to get a chest x-ray. A few days later, I received a message from the PA that saw me, stating that I needed to get into my primary care doctor ASAP for a CT scan and this was the first time that we learned that I may have cancer.

At the time, I did not have a PCP. Luckily, I was able to get into a clinic within a week or two and got my referral for the CT scan. It took a couple of weeks to get the results from the scan, but it was confirmed that I had some type of Lymphoma and I was promptly referred to an oncologist. Oddly enough, the cough that prompted me to see a doctor in the first place, was completely unrelated. But it potentially saved my life.

I had a biopsy surgery at the beginning of August where they removed a lymph node from my right armpit and a couple weeks later, we confirmed that it was Classic Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Unfortunately, we did suffer from some complications from that surgery and I developed a seroma in my armpit, which required a surgical drain that was put in during a second surgery to insert my chemo port. After a couple weeks with that drain, it was removed and the seroma became extremely infected and has caused me to have extremely limited use of my right arm for the last couple of months. As of today (late October), the previously infected surgical wound is nearly healed and I am slowly working to regain full function of my arm.

After a pet scan in mid August, we were informed that the cancer was was spreading from my neck to my entire abdominal and into my legs, as well as into my liver and kidneys. This put it into the later stages 3B-stage 4. I received my first chemotherapy treatment on August 31. I go in for chemo twice a month, for 6 months initially. Due to chemo basically killing off my immune system, I have to go in the next 3-4 days after each treatment for an injection that is supposed to stimulate white blood cell production to help build my immune system up a bit between treatments. So far, chemo has been successful. I have received 4 treatments as of writing this. The cancer in my neck and a lot of my abdomen has been reduced with each treatment, but the tumors in my organs have not changed yet. But we are very hopeful and I have a great team of doctors helping us through this as well as our amazing families being very supportive.

When I lost my job, I was able to get on unemployment to help us cover our rent and bills. Unfortunately with all of the uncertainty, I have not been able to find work over the last six months and my unemployment has run out. Unfortunately with my diagnosis, it seems that I most likely do not qualify for disability as of yet.

That brings me to the reason for creating this gofundme campaign. The severity of my disease and the complications that I have been dealing with, a long with the mistakes of my past have made it nearly impossible to find a job that will allow me to work around my treatment schedule, as well as one that I can reasonably physically perform. And with the income from unemployment running out, this has left us with a lot of uncertainty and is putting us, as well as our families into a lot of financial strain.

Luckily, my medical insurance covers pretty much all of my treatment costs. So we are seeking donations to help with things like rent, utilities, and transportation costs. Along with some much needed car repairs that we are going to be needing very soon since my treatment requires me to attend appointments up to 15-20 times per month and we only have 1 vehicle that has very high mileage and most likely will not get us through the next few months.

I was initially against creating this GoFundMe since I do not like to ask for help, but the strain this is putting on us and our families has been weighing on me a lot. I know that the last few years has been tough on everyone so I am very humbly asking for your help. Whether you are able to donate or share this campaign and/or my story with others, or even just sending any positive thoughts, vibes, and prayers our way, my family and I greatly appreciate it.

I will be updating this campaign with any new information I receive, as well as updates in my treatment and our lives as much as I can.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know it is basically a novel but I just wanted to be as transparent as possible and share my story.

Thank you again!

-Shane