Support Steve's Fight Against Brain Tumor

As many of you know, my stepdad, Steve and my mom have been hit hard recently. If you know them, they don’t ever ask for help. They just want to take care of things themselves one way or another. Steve has never been in this type of situation before and just wants life to be back tonormal. In the meantime, my mom is trying to handle everything herself. They are both so overwhelmed and it is hard for us to watch this all happening.Back in February, Steve started having worsening left arm weakness, numbness, tingling and partial paralysis. He had just started a new job and was unable to finish training due to this issue. He immediately saw orthopedics as they thought he had a pinched nerve or otherneck/shoulder issue going on. At the same time, he started having increasing headaches which they attributed to stress. We all just kept thinking this was a minor problem that would be a quick fix. On Sunday, March 10th, he had an MRI of his cervical spine and by the next morning he had suddenly lost almost all use of his left arm and started dragging his left leg. He described the more recent headaches as excruciating. Because they were unable to see neurology quickly as recommended, he was encouraged to go to the ER. On Monday, March 11th they went to the ER where he had imaging done and was quickly admitted for a newly diagnosed 7 cm brain tumor. By Tuesday morning, he had no use of his left arm or leg and his headaches were unbearable. He was given IV medications to try to reduce the swelling and fluid on his brain in preparation for surgery on Friday, March 15th. The craniotomy and tumor removal/resection was expected to last 4 hours but it ended up being more complicated than expected and lasted a little more than 6 hours. The tumor was expected to be a Grade I benign meningioma but pathology showed even that was a bit more complicated. His tumor is a Grade II atypical meningioma. Because of the complexity of the tumor, it was not possible to remove it completely. While still technically a benign tumor, the atypical cells are cause for concern. We all expected that after the surgery, Steve would need a few weeks to build his strength back up and get back to a more normal lifestyle. Unfortunately, due to this new diagnosis, Steve had to undergo 25 sessions of radiation therapy which really took a toll on him. My mom would go to work early and leave in the afternoons everyday to take him to radiation. He completed radiation on June 10th and we thought finally he was ready to start recovering. On Friday, June 21st, while he was home alone, he had his first seizure and was taken by ambulance back to the hospital. He had been experiencing new debilitating headaches that week and they later found out that he had a lot of swelling and fluid still on the brain. They won’t know until September if that is a result of residual tumor or if it is just caused by post surgery/treatment complications. The tumor, surgery and radiation basically cause what is a traumatic brain injury. Steve is still unable to write and do other things as a lefty. He has physical limitations that require my mom to assist him with day to day care. Due to the seizure, Steve is restricted fromdriving until December. Because Steve was unable to complete training for his new job, he was not working when this all escalated at the end of February and now is unable to get any type of short term disability or other assistance. It is still unclear when he will be able to return to work, especially with the driving restriction and the concern for seizures. He has been without any income since February 21st. My mom continues to work her full time job while being a full time caretaker toSteve. She is working hard to try to cover all their living expenses, rent, utilities and routine bills. My Mom had to add the expense of medical insurance for them too when all this was starting. Thankfully she was able to do that. Steve’s medical bills are already at $6,500 even with insurance. As you can imagine, that is added stress that neither of them need right now. Stress is terrible for Steve’s brain recovery and it’s impossible for him not to be stressed while he can only watch my mom trying to do everything. This journey has been so difficult for them so I amhoping to raise $10,000 to cover Steve’s medical bills and help them with some of their monthly expenses until Steve is able to get back on his feet and can return to work.They have felt so blessed with all the kind thoughts and prayers being sent their way throughoutthis time. They are lucky to have a support system around them to try to assist with things like meals and lawn care/maintenance. They are eternally grateful for all of this, shoulders to cry on and the hugs they got when they felt like everything was just falling apart. Even if you aren’table to donate, please keep them in your prayers as they truly appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to read this and helping to make them feel the love and support.

Alyssa