At 26, after a decade together, Dara and Cody should be making all sorts of plans. Those plans shouldn't include out of town hospital stays, multiple surgeries, treatment plans...and the word cancer definitely shouldn't be at the center of any of those plans. But cancer doesn't seem to have any manners or consideration in when and where it shows up.

A couple months ago, Cody noticed a spot on his tongue. That spot turned into kind of a growth. With the trusty help of Dr. Google, like so many of us, Cody found out he had cancer. Unfortunately, after being run around to MULTIPLE doctors, a dentist, and a biopsy later, it turns out, Dr. Google was correct this time. Cody has oral cancer. One doctor even offered that Cody is "the youngest patient he's ever treated" with this form of cancer. The average age for diagnosis of oral cancer is 63.

The "good" news: After a CT and MRI, it seems that they caught it early and the cancer hasn't spread.

The not so good news: Cody will have to have surgeries. They will remove the part of his tongue where the tumor is. Then reconstruct that part of his tongue, using tissue from his arm. And a Lymphadenectomy to remove his lymph nodes from the top half of his body.

We thought this would take place at a hospital locally and be a two day hospital stay. That changed last week, to a five day hospital stay in Little Rock, about a four hour drive from where Cody and Dara live. That, coupled with the uncertainty of what recovery and post surgery treatment will look like for Cody, is why I'm making this GoFundMe. There will be travel, lodging and food expenses for the time in Little Rock, as Dara still has to be home and work for part of that time. And once home, Cody will be unable to go back to work, at least while he recovers from surgery. While he will definitely require speech therapy, they're not sure, at this time, what his treatment will look like after surgery, as far as whether radiation/chemotherapy will be part of that treatment plan and how that will affect his ability to get back to work. So funds being raised will go to travel, lodging and food while Cody is in Little Rock, and to offset living expenses(rent, utilities, food, etc) at least through the holidays, once he's home recovering, and unable to work.

While medical bills will be a monster to fight later, I would like both of them to have a little less worry and stress while Cody kicks cancer in the face.

My thanks ahead of time, to those able to help by donating and sharing Cody's story.