Wade Lankins Cancer Fund

For a few weeks, my brother Wade was feeling sick. Unable to work for two weeks. Had a bad cough that didn’t seem to go away, back pain through the roof, and just exhausted from lack of sleep from the constant coughing. He went to urgent care and was told he was dehydrated and could potentially have pneumonia. After two days of antibiotics and his condition getting worse he went to the ER.  The lung doctor came to see what was going on with his breathing and found out pretty quickly it was testicular cancer that had spread to his abdomen and lungs over the last couple months. Figuring out the cough was caused by the cancer clogging his lungs. The back pain had been caused by a cancerous mass in his abdomen pushing against his spine. The original plan was go home with some oxygen for the weekend and start chemo on Monday, October 28th. However on the night of the 24th his breathing took a bad turn and the oncologist made the decision that he needed to be transferred to OHSU and start chemo Saturday. After two days of chemo on Saturday and Sunday, the doctors decided they needed to stabilize his breathing before continuing with the chemo. The best option was a breathing tube so they could regulate his breathing without him exerting so much energy. Nothing seemed to be getting better, the sedative wasn’t working very well, breathing wasn’t improving, and the chemo made his kidneys lose function. Next step was a medically induced coma for his body to essentially get rest that he hadn’t been getting the whole time he was home sick. From October 28th to November 12th he was on the paralytic while doctors developed their plan. During all this he was getting constant dialysis to keep his kidneys functioning. When they woke him up he was still in high spirits and has stayed positive throughout all of this, was just upset he lost 3 weeks. His breathing was slowly getting better as the two days of chemo cleared his lungs out a fair amount. They decided to hit it hard again and on November 18th to the 22nd he did around 4 hours of chemo each day. Along with this he was doing 2-4 hours ofdialysis. The days after chemo have been shaky. X-rays show his lungs are clearing up and his body is responding very well to the dialysis and medication. His breathing is still having issues though. This whole time he has been inICU except for 2 days in the cancer wing of the hospital that he quickly was transported back to ICU from. The main goal is to stabilize his breathing and I know that everything will work out great. He has a long road ahead of him but he is ready to fight and beat this. Most likely treatment will continue well into 2020. He won’t be able to work and unfortunately still has bills to pay. Life around him still keeps moving no matter the unfortunate circumstances he quite frankly doesn’t deserve, I wanted to make a GoFundMe so once he beats this he can have the easiest transition to getting back to his normal life. A lot has happened in the last month and I’ve been asked to keep everyone updated throughout the process so my apologies for the long story. I’m hoping this could give him and my parents some peace of mind when it comes to the financial portion of this terrible experience. As far as thoughts, prayers, vibes, and anything else you have all been giving him I just want to give a huge thank you over and over. I appreciate everyone of you.