<div>Well, this certainly needs quite an update. 
</div>
<div>First, thank you to everyone who has helped out so far! It means the world to me. 
</div>
<div>That being said, as I originally wrote, I had a right lower lung lobectomy on Jan. 13, 2025. The surgery was to remove the lung lobe and a cancer mass in it. It was done robotically and at the time it was done, we thought it would be a recovery period -- but it turned out to be a medical nightmare. 
</div>
<div>10 days after the original surgery, the "stump" -- where my lobe had been but was not a surgically closed off area -- failed in a rare complication called a fistula. As result, my lung collapsed and tore from the base up along the inner side of the lung -- a "rend" it was called -- that went to the entrance of the lung for the bronchus. 
</div>
<div>Eary in the morning of Jan. 24, an emergency thoracotomy was performed. There's a scar from my shoulder blade to my arm pit now -- plus several more from the chest tubes and the original robotic surgery. The surgeon was able to repair the lung and I survived (barely). I had several infections both before and the thoracotomy and following. 
</div>
<div>I also developed a second complication -- a piece of suture had been left in the airway during the Jan. 24 surgery (understandable because the goal was getting the lung inflated and working, not necessarily making pretty stitches.) That piece of suture fluttered about in my airway until April 2, when it was removed by U of M interventional pulmonology in Ann Arbor. It has collected so much debris it was nearly blocking the airway completely. It was also holding back and allowing to grow 5 more types of bacteria in my lungs and a fungus. We could not begin chemotherapy while treating those. 
</div>
<div>And I was certainly not able to perform at full strength -- or for a full time hours -- during this recovery period. 
</div>
<div>But finally -- June 25 we had the port installed (and we prepared for a potential infection, adding additional antibiotics just in case). And on July 8, I had my first chemo infusion. 
</div>
<div>I began a Family Medical Leave Act on July 10. I had already chewed up all my accrued vacation and leave time well before this (a total of about 30 days in the two different hospitals will do that to you). 
</div>
<div>So, what I had planned to be a 6 month slow down in my life from Jan. 13 to about June 13, will end up being at least another 6 months. I anticipate the chemo infusions to end on Sept. 9, but will be on leave until Oct. 1 so I can recover some strength. 
</div>
<div>That leaves with virtually no income. Now I am applying for some short-term disability from my work, and I pay for the coverage, but it could take weeks for that to get approved and start arriving. It also is only paid as a paper check. No direct deposit. I have been quite frugal with the donations thus far and have socked away enough to cover about a month of expenses. But anything you can contribute would be very helpful. Thank you all. 
</div>
<div>And let's get this chemo outta here and get on with the living!
</div>
<div>If you want a bit more on the journey so far, I had the extraordinary opportunity to meet one of the people who saved my life on Jan. 23, when my oxygen was just 30%. Our team took the opportunity to tell that story -- and mine -- here is the link: <a href="https://www.wlns.com/top-stories/ambulance-rides-save-lives/" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.wlns.com/top-stories/ambulance-rides-save-lives/</a>
</div>

Ed Arias

Paula Kiger

Rick Jones

Gloria PUROSKY

Maxine Thome

Ian Whipp

Cynthia Okolo

Anonymous

Terri Hanton

Francisco Vaca

Todd Tennis

Holly Cannon

Barb Byrum

Cynthia Goeckel

Marie Wicks

Tim Retzloff

Linda Granger

Nancy Bryans

Support Heywood's Lung Cancer Recovery

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Support Heywood's Lung Cancer Recovery

Still $5,974 to go. Help us build momentum.