Support my dad’s fight with cancer!
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My dad’s fight started in 2013, when he fractured several of his vertabrae in an accident at work on Friday. If you know my dad - then you are aware that he’s super stubborn, and never complains. So instead of going to the doctor right away, my dad waited until Monday. Over the weekend he even drove to his second home in Wisconsin...
Finally after the doctor’s visit and the MRI - we found out how serious his injury really was. His primary MD gave him a referral to a spine specialist, who honestly did not do anything except give my dad some pain meds and a excuse note for work. My dad would continue seeing that doctor- for about 3 weeks with no resolution to his symptoms, no explanation and no plan for his future treatment. All we knew at this point that he had multiple fractures in his spine... I was in my third year of pharmacy school, preparing for finals, so my brother was driving my dad to his appointments. We were all becoming pretty upset with the lack of progress in his treatment. So I did my own research and found a good spinal specialist in another hospital- he had my dad repeat the MRI and called us in to his office to discuss the results... I’m never going to forget that day. We thought we were going to hear that my dad will need surgery to repair his spine ... instead we heard that he has cancer and that his fractures were caused by the metastasis... Doctor couldn’t tell us where the primary tumor was located- couldn’t find it on the MRI. That same day we had our first visit at Loyola Cancer center- where my dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. His accident actually saved his life - because that made the doctors finally look into what caused such severe fractures in a relatively young person.
Since then my dad had radiation, chemo and autologous bone marrow transplant as well as a partial kyphoplasty to make sure his spine does not collapse. He won his first round with cancer and was in remission. This is just the shortened version of what he went through.
Onto the second chapter - so my dad was in remission for almost 4 years at this point - his blood work was monitored every 6 months and it was clear of myeloma cells...
In December of 2017 his kidney function test came back slightly abnormal, but when he repeated it it was fine. In February of this year, my dad got sick - it looked like food poisoning... but he continued intermittent vomiting for couple weeks. He even went to Loyola where they diagnosed him with a fungal infection of the throat and sent him home...
He seemed to be feeling better for couple days... then vomiting restarted worse then before. At this point he was driven to a small community hospital where they did a scan and found 2 masses ( 13cm pressing on kidney and 5.5 cm pressing on his intestines). That same night after he was somewhat stabilized- he was so dehydrated that his BP went down to 70/40, he was driven by his friends and my mom in an ice storm, to Loyola.
After a whole bunch of tests - we got the bad news yet again.. myeloma is back. And once again my dad will have to fight! He’s ready! He will find out his course of treatment this Tuesday. So I’m asking you guys - please keep him in your prayers, in your thoughts and if you are willing to donate a little something so he could concentrate on fighting his battle and not worry about the bills, that would be amazing. Every little bit helps. My dad doesn’t even know I’m doing this - he would not agree to it. He’s very ambitious and would not want to be viewed as a charity case. I’m only doing this to show him how many people care and love him. Both my dad and my mom have always been there for me and my siblings and our children. I would not be where I am know if it weren’t for them and their help and believing in me.
Finally after the doctor’s visit and the MRI - we found out how serious his injury really was. His primary MD gave him a referral to a spine specialist, who honestly did not do anything except give my dad some pain meds and a excuse note for work. My dad would continue seeing that doctor- for about 3 weeks with no resolution to his symptoms, no explanation and no plan for his future treatment. All we knew at this point that he had multiple fractures in his spine... I was in my third year of pharmacy school, preparing for finals, so my brother was driving my dad to his appointments. We were all becoming pretty upset with the lack of progress in his treatment. So I did my own research and found a good spinal specialist in another hospital- he had my dad repeat the MRI and called us in to his office to discuss the results... I’m never going to forget that day. We thought we were going to hear that my dad will need surgery to repair his spine ... instead we heard that he has cancer and that his fractures were caused by the metastasis... Doctor couldn’t tell us where the primary tumor was located- couldn’t find it on the MRI. That same day we had our first visit at Loyola Cancer center- where my dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. His accident actually saved his life - because that made the doctors finally look into what caused such severe fractures in a relatively young person.
Since then my dad had radiation, chemo and autologous bone marrow transplant as well as a partial kyphoplasty to make sure his spine does not collapse. He won his first round with cancer and was in remission. This is just the shortened version of what he went through.
Onto the second chapter - so my dad was in remission for almost 4 years at this point - his blood work was monitored every 6 months and it was clear of myeloma cells...
In December of 2017 his kidney function test came back slightly abnormal, but when he repeated it it was fine. In February of this year, my dad got sick - it looked like food poisoning... but he continued intermittent vomiting for couple weeks. He even went to Loyola where they diagnosed him with a fungal infection of the throat and sent him home...
He seemed to be feeling better for couple days... then vomiting restarted worse then before. At this point he was driven to a small community hospital where they did a scan and found 2 masses ( 13cm pressing on kidney and 5.5 cm pressing on his intestines). That same night after he was somewhat stabilized- he was so dehydrated that his BP went down to 70/40, he was driven by his friends and my mom in an ice storm, to Loyola.
After a whole bunch of tests - we got the bad news yet again.. myeloma is back. And once again my dad will have to fight! He’s ready! He will find out his course of treatment this Tuesday. So I’m asking you guys - please keep him in your prayers, in your thoughts and if you are willing to donate a little something so he could concentrate on fighting his battle and not worry about the bills, that would be amazing. Every little bit helps. My dad doesn’t even know I’m doing this - he would not agree to it. He’s very ambitious and would not want to be viewed as a charity case. I’m only doing this to show him how many people care and love him. Both my dad and my mom have always been there for me and my siblings and our children. I would not be where I am know if it weren’t for them and their help and believing in me.
Organizer
Gosia Wie
Organizer
Cape Coral, FL
