Tony's Fight: 2 Years Down, 28 to Go
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Hi everyone. My name is Tony Pottorff. I live in Columbus, IN and teach high school social studies full-time. I have two beautiful daughters, one a freshman in college, the other a freshman in high school. Shortly, my high school sweetheart, Margie, and I will be celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary.
A little over 25 months ago I received diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer, the cancer has also spread to my lymph nodes, lungs, and bones. The word "shocked" does not convey how my family and I felt after this diagnosis; "blindsided" is probably a better word.
Despite this grim prognosis, my self-created goal is to live minimum of 30 years beyond my diagnosis. I am a little over 2 years in and have at lest 28 years to go, hence, the name of this campaign, "2 down, 28 to go".
I had no idea that men could get breast cancer, which brings me to the primary objective of this GoFundMe campaign: awareness. Though rare in men, breast cancer is diagnosed in approximately 2700 men per year, with 500 deaths in men per year. First and foremost, please ask the men in your lives to do a yearly breast self-examination. I may not be facing a terminal outcome if I had. Tips and procedures for a self-examination are readily available online.
Another objective of this campaign is to raise funds. The growing list of supplements I need runs about $250 a month. Though our medical insurance is very good, we still have a minimum of $7500 we must pay each year to meet deductibles. For the last two years that number has exceeded $7500. We also travel regularly to Indianapolis and Chicago for treatments, making oil changes and gas fill-ups more frequent than ever before. Though I work full-time, my wife works a small number of hours per week as she is my caregiver and constant companion to medical appointments. The strain on our finances is consistent and sometimes unpredictable.
The amount of support through prayers, acts of kindness and money in the last 25 months that we have received is nothing short of miraculous.
I humbly ask that you do three things with this post:
1. Share this post with your FB friends.
2. Ask them to reshare this post.
3. If able, support my campaign any way you can - prayers, kind wishes, and financially.
I want to offer as much gratitude as possible to the hundreds of you that have gone out of your way to support us. We can not thank you enough.
A little over 25 months ago I received diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer, the cancer has also spread to my lymph nodes, lungs, and bones. The word "shocked" does not convey how my family and I felt after this diagnosis; "blindsided" is probably a better word.
Despite this grim prognosis, my self-created goal is to live minimum of 30 years beyond my diagnosis. I am a little over 2 years in and have at lest 28 years to go, hence, the name of this campaign, "2 down, 28 to go".
I had no idea that men could get breast cancer, which brings me to the primary objective of this GoFundMe campaign: awareness. Though rare in men, breast cancer is diagnosed in approximately 2700 men per year, with 500 deaths in men per year. First and foremost, please ask the men in your lives to do a yearly breast self-examination. I may not be facing a terminal outcome if I had. Tips and procedures for a self-examination are readily available online.
Another objective of this campaign is to raise funds. The growing list of supplements I need runs about $250 a month. Though our medical insurance is very good, we still have a minimum of $7500 we must pay each year to meet deductibles. For the last two years that number has exceeded $7500. We also travel regularly to Indianapolis and Chicago for treatments, making oil changes and gas fill-ups more frequent than ever before. Though I work full-time, my wife works a small number of hours per week as she is my caregiver and constant companion to medical appointments. The strain on our finances is consistent and sometimes unpredictable.
The amount of support through prayers, acts of kindness and money in the last 25 months that we have received is nothing short of miraculous.
I humbly ask that you do three things with this post:
1. Share this post with your FB friends.
2. Ask them to reshare this post.
3. If able, support my campaign any way you can - prayers, kind wishes, and financially.
I want to offer as much gratitude as possible to the hundreds of you that have gone out of your way to support us. We can not thank you enough.
Organizer
Tony Pottorff
Organizer
Columbus, IN
