My brother, Jeff, had back pain that has progressively gotten worse over the past few years. Two years ago he went to the Dr and after scans was diagnosed with collapsed vertebrae, moderate-severe stenosis and degenerative disc disease. The diagnosis made sense to him, attributed it to years of working on airplanes.

Over the summer, the pain was getting worse. At times his legs would give out other times he would barely be able to walk at all. The pain became unbearable and he was starting to have other concerning symptoms. September 28th he accepted that something wasn't right and that this was more than just back pain. He went to the ER. He found out that there was a mass in his cecum that has spread and was causing a partial obstruction. They transferred and admitted him to Baystate for a more extensive testing and on Oct 7th they did surgery to remove part of his colon and small intestines.

Oct. 10th he was discharged. By that evening he began feeling worse and was unable to keep anything down. He called the surgeon the next day and was advised to go to closest ER so they could do a CT scan and rule out any potential complications from surgery. While in the ER Jeff started to decline quickly. He was in kidney failure and sepsis shock. He was transferred him back to Baystate where they worked to stabilize him and performed two emergency surgeries. He spent another two weeks in the hospital.

The biopsy results have come back and and the cancer has spread to multiple lymphnodes and nerve fibers. Once he recovers from surgery and being so sick, he will need to start treatment.

This has already been an incredibly hard year, in December, his wife, Meghan, was diagnosed with cancer and went through chemo and radiation. They found out she was in remission in August and now a couple months later are facing Jeff's cancer battle. Anyone that knows Jeff, he has always been one to help others, whether it's fixing cars, something around the house, etc. I am hoping to help take some of the burden off so that they can focus on their health and Jeff beating this. Please consider helping support Jeff through his battle with cancer.