Please try and help my cousin Tony & his wife Berna defray some of the cost of traveling. These two great ppl would never ask a dime of anyone.I am trying to help them get thru this tough and critical time for Tony. Just look at Tonys smile, he could make anyone laugh.
 Here is Tony's story from his wife Berna.
As many of you know, my husband Tony, who is now 73 years old, suffered a recurrence of oral cancer.  He first had oral cancer 20 years ago.  He underwent surgery back in 1997 and received an obturator to cover a portion of his hard pallette.  This time around, the tumor, which is a slow growing tumor, was located in the back of the hard pallette.  It grew to be a Stage 3 huge tumor.  It was close to being a Stage 4 which would have rendered it inoperable.  He underwent immediate surgery at Sloane Kettering on December 1, which happened to be my 65th birthday.  During the surgery, they had to cut his face open from under his eye, down is nose, lips and chin to get at the tumor.  They also needed to do a skin graft - they took a huge section of skin from his leg and inserted it into his mouth to provide more of a protective barrier.The surgery took 6 hours.  He remained in the hospital for 4 days, and was released home with Visiting Nurse Services.  In the meantime, we have needed to return to the hospital numerous times for him to receive follow-up surgical care and for the interim obturator (which is huge) to be reshaped.  After-care has been difficult.  He is unable to eat anything but liquid or some soft foods, which usually come out from his nose.  Nutrition is important for healing - but tough to accomplish under these circumstances. At first, Tony had difficulty walking because of the pain from the wound on his leg.  His face was a bit disfigured because of the swelling and stitches too.  After they removed the stitches, his face has begun to heal nicely.  Yesterday we had to go back to Sloane Kettering for an evaluation by the Radiation Oncology Department Team.  We received the news from them that there is no choice to be made.  Tony must undergo 35 radiation treatments.  Because of the expertise of the doctors at Sloane, and the need for the treatment to be precise, the radiation treatment can only be done there at Sloane.  It is expected that he will experience side effects (i.e. burning and sores in his mouth, sore throat, swallowing problems, and jaw problems.  He is needless to say in a very weakened state, although making slow progress.  Complete recovery from all of this is expected to be approximately one year.
 
As you can imagine, travelling to Sloane Kettering has been challenging.  The only safe way for him to get there is by cab.  While we are fortunate to have found a cab company with excellent drivers and nice sturdy cabs ( Carmel), the cost of a round trip to the hospital is $100 per day.  The cost for the radiation treatment, which must be done daily Monday-Friday will be $3500. 
 
We are both retired and on a fixed income now.  While we will spare no expense to ensure that Tony receives the best of care possible, this will have a huge impact on us financially.  We are not eligible to defray some of the cost by staying in several of the special hotels made available by the American Cancer Society because we live in Queens.  You must live a much greater distance away from the hospital to be eligible to stay at these places.  While many hotels in the area offer discounted prices for cancer patients receiving radiation - they still range in prices from $400 - $600 per night.  This leaves us with the only safe option, which is to use the cab service.
 
Both Tony and I greatly appreciate any help you can give us.  We thank you so very much!