Helping the Hurwitz Family
Donation protected
David's Story:
It started about two years ago. My father David, who is prone to skin cancer, noticed a spot on his left cheek. Given his history and what had become practically routine minor surgeries to remove skin cancer all over his body, he proactively asked about the spot. The response he got from the dermatologist: “I don’t know what that is.” That spot continued to grow, my dad continued to ask, and he got the same answer. It was never biopsied. Fast forward two years, it’d become a mass that was painful and uncomfortable. Clearly something wasn’t right. This summer in May doctors decided to perform surgery on that spot which they thought was a cyst. In surgery doctors found it was much more serious than realized: squamous cell skin cancer. Typically if caught early this type of skin cancer can be easily treated and cured. But in my dad’s case, it’d progressed far worse than a typical diagnosis. He was referred to a cancer surgeon. The surgery to remove the mass was scheduled for July - which marked some of the toughest months for our family. We were told his surgery would be seven hours. It lasted 15. We were some of the first ones in for check-in at 5:30 a.m. and my mother and I were the last ones left, staring at his surgery number on the screen more than 12 hours later wondering what had happened to my dad. Turns out they were incredibly meticulous which is a good thing. His surgery involved skin grafting, essentially removing his left cheek with some muscle tissue and moving skin from his neck to replace it.
There were and still are unknowns about what kinds of affects the surgery would have on his left side of his face, and his ability to talk, eat, feel, etc. He spent a week in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before he was free to go home with a long recovery ahead, including chemotherapy and radiation in his future. He was home for maybe a day and a half when the left side of his face swelled up so severe it was into his eye. Doctors took him in for an emergency surgery for a hematoma. He spent another week in the ICU. Once he was released he spent more than a month at home recovering before chemotherapy and radiation. Chemo and radiation were anything but easy. He just finished both, but it’s a long road to recovery. The radiation killed his taste buds so everything tastes horrible. He’s run down and doesn’t have energy and can’t eat much. My dad is semi-retired and because of all of this he can’t work much which is putting a financial strain on my parents to cover not only medical bills but general day-to-day costs. If you can donate at all, it would be greatly appreciated by the Hurwitz family.
It started about two years ago. My father David, who is prone to skin cancer, noticed a spot on his left cheek. Given his history and what had become practically routine minor surgeries to remove skin cancer all over his body, he proactively asked about the spot. The response he got from the dermatologist: “I don’t know what that is.” That spot continued to grow, my dad continued to ask, and he got the same answer. It was never biopsied. Fast forward two years, it’d become a mass that was painful and uncomfortable. Clearly something wasn’t right. This summer in May doctors decided to perform surgery on that spot which they thought was a cyst. In surgery doctors found it was much more serious than realized: squamous cell skin cancer. Typically if caught early this type of skin cancer can be easily treated and cured. But in my dad’s case, it’d progressed far worse than a typical diagnosis. He was referred to a cancer surgeon. The surgery to remove the mass was scheduled for July - which marked some of the toughest months for our family. We were told his surgery would be seven hours. It lasted 15. We were some of the first ones in for check-in at 5:30 a.m. and my mother and I were the last ones left, staring at his surgery number on the screen more than 12 hours later wondering what had happened to my dad. Turns out they were incredibly meticulous which is a good thing. His surgery involved skin grafting, essentially removing his left cheek with some muscle tissue and moving skin from his neck to replace it.
There were and still are unknowns about what kinds of affects the surgery would have on his left side of his face, and his ability to talk, eat, feel, etc. He spent a week in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before he was free to go home with a long recovery ahead, including chemotherapy and radiation in his future. He was home for maybe a day and a half when the left side of his face swelled up so severe it was into his eye. Doctors took him in for an emergency surgery for a hematoma. He spent another week in the ICU. Once he was released he spent more than a month at home recovering before chemotherapy and radiation. Chemo and radiation were anything but easy. He just finished both, but it’s a long road to recovery. The radiation killed his taste buds so everything tastes horrible. He’s run down and doesn’t have energy and can’t eat much. My dad is semi-retired and because of all of this he can’t work much which is putting a financial strain on my parents to cover not only medical bills but general day-to-day costs. If you can donate at all, it would be greatly appreciated by the Hurwitz family.
Organizer and beneficiary
Sarah Edith
Organizer
Beaverton, OR
David Hurwitz
Beneficiary