Support Steve's Journey to MD Anderson for Cancer Care

I’m Steve’s daughter Chelsea, and I’m going to tell you a small version of our medical journey. All of this started roughly 6 months ago. My Daddy unexpectedly became paralyzed on his living room floor. He laid there for hours stuck in his own body while everyone was at work. We finally found him and called the ambulance. My Daddy admitted to the doctors upon arrival that he took CBD gummies for his body aches and pains. Immediately their demeanor changed. They treated my Daddy like an addict in the ER, but admitted him anyways. They done a few routine tests, lung xray, and a head CT. All tests came back good. Bloodwork came back reasonable. Head CT came back normal. Lung x-ray was normal. They discharged Daddy after 2 days. His cause of discharge: Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome. We arrived home, and we all felt in our gut that something wasn’t right. My Daddy couldn’t hold his head up to have a conversation with anyone. We decided to take him to Oxford. Where they immediately begin to re-run tests. They inform us his lung x-ray showed aspiration pneumonia from him being stuck in the floor so long and swallowing vomit. They admitted him. He spent roughly a week in Oxford Baptist being pumped with antibiotics. We explained to the doctors that we felt this was more than aspiration pneumonia and bad CBD gummies. So they dug a little deeper but failed to find anything definitive. Finally we were discharged with no follow-ups scheduled anywhere and strict instructions to lay off gummies. No answers. A few months roll by and Daddy loses almost 20 pounds. He clearly didn’t feel very well. After being miserable for so long my stepmother Jeanette demanded we go have more bloodwork done. The day after the bloodwork they called my Daddy at work and told him to immediately get to the hospital. They informed him he was in kidney failure and needed immediate medical attention. Jeanette and Daddy rush to New Albany. There they were put in an ER room, and told that the next available ambulance will take Daddy to Oxford. He waited 5 hours before the ambulance arrived. He arrived at Oxford Baptist at 11:30pm. The next day the doctor on call arrived to assure us they were going to dig and find out what’s going on in his kidneys. A few days pass. We only speak to the doctor on call in the dialysis unit during this time. While trying to juggle work and our daily lives, Daddy was alone in the hospital room for shorts periods of time. During one of our transition times, Daddy had a seizure in the hospital bed. He managed to eventually push his nurse call button. The head nurse comes in his room and asks him what’s wrong. He tells her he thinks he had a seizure. She proceeded to tell him he didn’t have a seizure, cleaned off her dry erase info board, checked his IV, then walked out. After she walked out Daddy texted me and told me something just happened to him. He didn’t know what it was, and he was scared that if it happened again he might not make it through it. I was on my way there. I walked in the room to find out he had another seizure shortly before I arrived and that his CNA walked in on him having it. They immediately took him down for a head CT. We waited almost 2 days for these results. The same doctor as before came in to tell us they found 1-2 lesions on his brain, his brain was swelling, and that he was 80% sure it was cancer. He also said we would need a MRI with contrast to be able to tell more about these lesions, but Daddy’s kidneys weren’t strong enough to handle the dye from the MRI. We spend the next 5-6 days pushing fluids and steroids and watching his kidney numbers. We had a goal number to get to, and it was a horribly long process of reaching those numbers. During the first week we were there we never spoke to a kidney doctor. Around day 8 the kidney doctor walks in and informs us that he has no clue why they would wait on kidney function to improve when the brain is in jeopardy. We needed to get that MRI as soon as possible. The MRI showed 6-8 lesions. They were now positive this was cancer, but brain cancer was not the primary source. There was for sure more cancer somewhere else, but they would have to do more tests to find it. Through the next few days there are multiple test done. We ruled out each organ one by one. No cancer was located anywhere else other than the brain lesions. They finally decided his kidneys were in ok shape to send him home. Then we learn about a spot Daddy has in his pelvic region. He has had this spot for a few years. It never healed and often seeped fluid. Through the years there’s been about 4 different doctors, including a dermatologist, who have been made aware of this spot and gave it the all clear. Always a different cream to try, and none of them worked. They diagnosed it epididymitis. All doctors seen at Oxford hospital knew of this spot, and no one seemed concerned. They found nothing. They sent us home with a pamphlet stating Daddy had brain cancer metastasis with unknown primary source. They never spoke to us about this diagnosis. They never gave us information, statistics, or answered any of our questions with definitive answers. We leave the hospital, and I immediately call in our family whom are hospice nurses. They so kindly make it out to see us the next morning and start explaining stuff. We heard numbers and knowledge we had never heard before. They done their best to look over his medical records and recent tests, and they quickly realize we want more answers. Every since then they’ve guided us through this process. After not finding answers anywhere else they immediately draw attention to the never healing spot in Daddy’s pelvic region. A biopsy was scheduled immediately. That biopsy showed some very strange results. After sending the results through 2 labs, this spot came back with properties similar to breast cancer. Those results were very vague. Further testing needed to be done, so he was scheduled a full body petscan and a biopsy of the affected lymph node in the pelvic region. The lymph node biopsy showed characteristics of b-cell lymphoma. The results of the petscan showed multiple areas of concern. Some were justifiable with Daddy’s other medical conditions, but other areas were very suspicious. One of those spots is his T6 vertebrae. After another MRI of his spine, it is confirmed cancer in his T6 vertebrae and other possibly cancerous lesions on 2 surrounding vertebrae. This is all the information we’ve been given. We were never given treatment options, statistics, or any numbers. We really weren’t even given a for sure concrete diagnosis. The oncologist in our area says “We know you have cancer, but we don’t know where.” I tell you all of this because you need to know what all has led us to this point. We are fed up with not getting answers and watching my daddy deteriorate. He still isn’t for sure that he wants to fight this, but he doesn’t have all the information he needs to make that decision confidently. He deserves to be able to confidently make a decision about his treatment. So we’ve agreed that the best place to find answers is a cancer hospital in Houston, TX called MD Anderson. It’s a very prestigious hospital with a wonderful reputation. However, my stepmom is a nurse that has been out of work trying her best to care for her husband. She needs financial help in order for us to get him to this hospital. There will be many days on the road traveling and medical expenses that she doesn’t need to have to worry about. I come to you to humbly ask for a donation to help with his and Jeanette’s expenses. Thank you for all the support and prayers you’ve already shown us. It’s means everything to my Daddy. If you cannot afford to help we completely understand and ask for your continued prayers!