Support Robert in his battle with Stage 3 Esophageal Cancer

Hi everyone,

Madison and I are coming together to create this fundraiser for our father, Robert Meeker, who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 esophageal cancer. What started as difficulty swallowing has turned into an inability to swallow any solid food in just 6 weeks. After an endoscopy confirmed the presence of cancer, he was seen at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, to discuss his options for treatment.

His current treatment plan will be 4 cycles of FLOT chemotherapy to target the cancer of the esophageal junction, which will last for 2 months locally in Binghamton. He will then be scheduled for thoracic surgery in Boston for an esophagectomy. After he recovers from surgery, he will undergo 4 more cycles of chemo. There is promising research supporting the efficacy of this treatment plan; however, it is known to be an aggressive treatment.

This diagnosis is particularly difficult because this will be our dad's second battle with cancer. In 2017, he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and had to undergo intense chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which thankfully brought him to remission. According to his oncologist, his previous chemotherapy treatment may interfere with his future treatment, making it more difficult for him to tolerate than before.

With this unexpected diagnosis will come unanticipated expenses. Our mom will likely have to cut back her hours as a hospice caretaker to stay home and care for our dad during his treatment and pay for housing in Boston when he has surgery. Any donations will be greatly appreciated.

This has been extremely difficult because if you know our dad, he loves food. It’s hard to watch him struggle to do the things he loves. We hope and pray he can overcome this challenge and get back to walking the dogs everyday, taking them to the river to swim, boating, being "Mr. fix-anything," cooking, eating all the yummy food he loves, and believe it or not working. He is such a hard worker and truly loves his job at Raymond Corporation.

We are extremely grateful for all of the support our family has received since the diagnosis. We want our dad to put all of his effort into fighting this cancer and not have to worry about finances. He is the strongest person we know and we have no doubt that he will beat cancer a second time.

Thank you for thinking of our family,

Jordan and Madison Meeker