Rally with Russell to fight Prostate Cancer

At the age of 53, Russell Lee was enjoying life as a husband, father to three children, and his new role of grandfather to three grandchildren, when in December of 2017 he was diagnosed with Metastatic Prostate Cancer.  As 97-98% of all prostate cancers are very slow growing, he was not extremely worried as he underwent a prostatectomy in February of 2018, until he found out that the cancer had already spread to the vessels beyond the prostate. Even then, he was reassured by his doctors after his prostate was removed and they found no evidence of metastasis in the lymph nodes or bones, that with radiation to zap the cancer in his vessels, this would be something that was very manageable. 

Unfortunately, the Doctors were wrong and in 2019, only 2 years after his initial diagnosis, was told that his cancer was terminal.  Unfortunately, we now know he has a very rare, aggressive form and falls into the other 2-3% of all Metastatic Prostate Cancers.  After every conventional treatment had failed within a matter of only 4 years, he was recently sent to MD Anderson on a hope and a prayer for more treatment options including the possibilities of clinical trials.  We are so thankful for his team of Doctors at MD Anderson.  They are simply the best, and after retesting Russell’s sample from his initial surgery, we have learned that he was incorrectly diagnosed and is actually considered a Gleason score 9 instead of a Gleason score 7, and his lymph nodes did in fact test positive for metastasis according to MD Anderson’s labs.

After many prayerful nights, we got the call that Russell does qualify for a Phase 1 clinical trial at MD Anderson in Houston.  However, this particular clinical trial will require him and his family to be in Houston for the first two months of treatment, and then once a month for the duration of the trial, which will hopefully be a very long time, but for Russell the cost of travel is weighing heavy.  Not only is he worried about the fight of his life, he is also worried about putting his family in a financial burden with the cost of flights, apartments, rental cars, hotels, on top of his medical expenses.  Any donation would be greatly appreciated and all proceeds will be going towards travel and medical expenses.  We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love, support and prayers through this journey.