Combating Cleater's Cancer

Thank you for visiting the GoFundMe page for our dear friend Andy Juedes, who was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 Colorectal cancer.

Andy "Cleater" Juedes (40) is a devoted husband to his wife Stephanie (35), and loving father to his son Levi who will be turning 5 in October. Andy and his family enjoy a very active lifestyle together and can often be found playing softball, golfing, snowmobiling and fishing. Anything sports related or activities they can do outdoors is where the three seem to be the happiest.

After several months of stomach discomfort, Andy went in to find out what was causing him pain. During this time, many tests were performed and it was discovered that Andy had colon cancer. Additional tests confirmed that the cancer had taken up residency at the base of his colon and part of his large intestine. The formal diagnosis after additional appointments with their Oncologists is stage 3 colorectal cancer, which essentially means that the number of cancer cells are high, and it has spread to other local tissue.  Testing also determined that Andy has Lynch Syndrome, which is a genetic mutation passed down from parent to child. Lynch Syndrome keeps Andy at risk not only for several other types of cancers but will change his preventive care measures for the future, even after he beats this first step.  It also means that Andy and Stephanie will need to ensure that Levi begins preventative care as he gets older seeing as he may also be a carrier of Lynch Syndrome. On top of all this, Andy was also informed that he has celiac disease which means the family will be making some immediate dietary changes which in the grand scheme of the diagnosis is the least of his worries but none the less another item to add to the list.

As you can likely imagine, the Juedes Family has been in shock after receiving this news and will continue to have a lot of questions as they learn more about what this means for Andy and their family each week.

While receiving treatment, Andy will need to take time away from work, his wife Stephanie will also likely need to take time off from work to accompany him on his many appointments and to provide him with care throughout the process.   Understanding that this will be an arduous process for them, many family and friends want to be sure that Andy, Stephanie, and Levi are supported and not under additional stressors as Andy begins his healing process. In addition to typical out of pocket expenses, lifelong maintenance and preventative care for Andy will raise the total cost of treatment exponentially, much of which their insurance will not cover.

Andy has always been the guy who will move heaven and earth at the drop of a hat to help any of his friends or family and conversely never asks for help for himself, regardless of what he is working on and going through. It is vitally important that we are all there for Andy and his family with any support we can provide.

Please tap into your generous and giving spirit and open your wallets as much as Andy has opened our hearts by giving a gift of financial peace and comfort in the family's time of need. All donations will go directly to the financial cost of care. Even the smallest donation can have a huge impact.

Thank you! Let’s do this for Andy!

#teamcleater