Support Scott's Fight Against Liver Cancer

First of all, thank you for your love and support!

I am Diane and Scott, my husband, best friend, life partner and beyond. As I sit writing this, never in a million years I thought we would be going through this…

Back nearly a year ago, Scott was changing the water filter and thought he moved the wrong way landing him a hernia. Shortly thereafter he went to the primary care who did routine blood work and referred him to a hernia specialist. The specialist said he cannot take care of the hernia until he knew the source of the fluid. So, off to the next doctor, more blood work, more tests. We travelled all over the Lehigh Valley and beyond to get these tests as soon as we possibly could. Each test was a little more revealing of what was going on. Finally, the next specialist informs us that “I’m 100% sure this is cancer.” We left his office shocked as he informed us that there is a large mass (larger than a grapefruit), as well as cancer in all other segments of his liver.

As the news came pouring in, we got a second opinion at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia where a panel of nine cancer liver doctors reviewed his chart. All are in agreement, surgery is not an option, as we hear we it is inoperable.

So, with a great deal of determination and a positive attitude, we are embarked on the chemo journey together. After six months of chemo, the tumors shrunk 30-40%, which left us with some hope. Then two months of immunotherapy revealing the tumor growth was nearly back to its original size and new tumors appeared. Quickly this was aborted and we went to our third line of dense. When the original biopsy was done, it revealed he had several genetic biomarkers, one called IDH1. Currently he is taking medicine for this biomarker which is meant to maintain tumor size.

Now, we are embarking on a cutting-edge procedure that is non-surgical and very safe. This new procedure is called Histotripsy. The IR doctor will break up the tumor mass with sound waves which will break the tumor down small enough to have it pass through his kidneys and come out of his body naturally. The down side to this procedure is that the United Health Care refuses to cover the costs despite it being recently FDA approved. At this time, we will not address the large tumor but many smaller ones.

We recognize that everyone we originally told felt shock, like us and we can sense their powerlessness, the same kind we feel. Scott is full of life, everyone loves him as he is the rock to many including his children, siblings, grandchildren, co-workers, friends and most of all the best husband anyone could want. So, we have decided to reach out to our family, friends and former classmates (as we went to high school together), as well as a broader community for support. As we attempt to give him the best shot possible, we recognize the financial burden this will cause our already stressed family.

It doesn’t come easy for us to truly humble ourselves to ask for help with this additional stressor, yet we have learned that community is so vitally important. And, so, we will not fight this alone. So, please support us with kind words, love and prayers and if you feel moved any contribution will help alleviate some of the stress and burden.

It is with immense gratitude that we thank you for taking the time to read this and for any contribution you make. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

With sheer love and gratitude,

Diane