Help August Fight Cancer

Almost a year ago, my father, Augusto David, was taken to the ER from profuse bleeding that lasted for weeks. For many days, the doctors searched for the cause of the bleeding. Eventually, they found the cause and the diagnosis was that he had a GIST tumor. Over the course of days, he had alternate bleeding and blood transfusion. At some point, while his body had gone through so much from the pain and bleeding, he had a pretty bad heart attack. At the onset, Papa had a complex case. We transferred him from a local hospital to a county hospital because of this same reason — and only one surgeon accepted his case.

 Papa had to go through all these on his own. COVID-19 cases were at its peak during those times and family members were not even allowed to visit. We are so thankful that the doctors and nurses were so nice and made Papa feel comfortable like as if he were home. The struggle of not knowing which organ to address whether the heart or the tumor from the duodenum was heartbeat stopping. Finally after weeks of battle between the Surgical Cardiologist, Surgical Oncologist and the Hepatobiliary Surgeon, they finally decided to address the heart first. Procedures done were coil embolization, endoscopy, blood transfusions, quadruple heart bypass, cholecystectomy drain and full cholecystectomy, cat scan, MRI and ERCP — my poor dad had endured and surpassed all that like a trooper!
 
We were so happy that Papa had regained his strength and had put on some weight. But after a few months, he complained of abdominal pain. He was taken to the ER and and we found out that he had gall stones in his gall bladder and that the gall bladder needed to be taken out. The surgical oncologist wanted to take out the gall bladder and the tumor at the same time. She wanted Papa to gain more weight before the surgery was to be performed.

After about 6 months of waiting, the moment we had been waiting finally came. Papa was at length strong enough to go through another surgery. The plan was to take out the gall bladder and the tumor laparoscopically. If the surgery would call for a whipple surgery, we have decided that Papa won’t need to go through that risky procedure anymore. After the laparoscopy, we received a terrible news from Dr. Cutter that Papa was diagnosed with Stage 4 Adenocarcinoma Cancer. The doctors are still trying to figure out where the origin of the cancer is. They did a molecular test and we are still waiting for the result…

June 1, 2021 — Papa complained about a big painful lump on the surgical incision on his right abdomen. We took him to the ER and the nurse noticed that his oxygen level was really low. She gave Papa oxygen right away and within a few minutes his levels improved. They did some blood test, EKG, and CT Scan. We are still waiting for the results…

June 2, 2021 — Dr. Orr called my sister, Jamie, to deliver a very devastating news. The molecular test result came and she was told that the origin of the cancer is from his lungs and had metastasized to the gall bladder (that was taken out), to the nearby organs and spine. Dr. Orr is suggesting an immunotherapy treatment that is a combination of pill and IV. We will try this treatment if it would work and will take it from there.

I am so happy that my sis Kay, Jamie and I had made efforts to come together and spend time with Papa.
 
For those that have been asking how they can help, your prayer for Papa’s recovery and strength for our family will be greatly appreciated.
 
A GoFundMe page was established for those interested in directly assisting the family, especially for my sister, Jamie, who has exhausted most of her funds in taking care of Papa.  You can also drop your donation to Venmo @Jamie-Gegenworth.

Thank you in advance,
Marlou