"When life puts you down, you need to get up"

Hi there, my name is Barna. This fundraiser is not for me; it is for my daughter and wife to have a father and a husband again.

I had never asked for anything in life before; I always worked for anything I needed. I stopped working in February 2021 after ending up in the emergency room for the third time with heavy bleeding.

Since then, my wife has been working late hours every day to cover all the household expenses.

I was diagnosed with rectal cancer in August 2020.

Started a special diet and alternative therapy right away.

At that time, I was 215 pounds. At the end of July 2021, I had an emergency surgery due to an inflammation caused by the cancer and lost 17 pounds during the 8 days I was in the hospital.

I was 155 pounds when I checked in for surgery and 138 pounds when I got home. Due to the intubation, I was not able to eat or swallow.

About 10 days after I got home from the hospital, I contracted COVID, which got me really bad. It took my appetite away, and I looked like a walking skeleton.

Around Christmas 2021, the tumor started growing rapidly, and by February, it took over most of the pelvic cavity.

In those past 6 months, we went from doctor to doctor, but all of them told me that I would die soon if I didn’t start chemo tomorrow.

I was looking for a less toxic treatment, but we couldn’t find a doctor that could offer me anything else but chemotherapy.

In March, we found a decent radiation specialist and decided to start radiation treatment right away because the tumor became huge.

Well, at that time, I was dragging myself…had a hard time walking 10 feet. I spend most of my days in bed under a large amount of opiate pain medication and still woke up in the morning with extreme pain.

I completed 7 weeks of a very large dosage of radiation. The therapy worked, and the tumor shrank down by half side but was still large to operate. I cannot receive new radiation, so we are looking for a new treatment. Currently working with a new oncologist. However, because the insurance company is doing everything to avoid paying for any more treatments, we had to cover the expenses ourselves.

Recently we found another oncologist in a clinic out of the country, and treatment looks promising, but we need to pay for all costs and travel expenses. Also found other specialists with modern cancer treatment methods in Europe.

This is my history of this very challenging time.

So far, I have learned a lot from going thru this journey.

I went thru hell those few months before and during radiation. I barely made it, but I did...I had enough.

Enough of pain and suffering.

I have learned my lesson about the ugly side of life.

I want to heal now to be a happy, healthy father and husband.

This fundraiser is not for me. It is for my daughter and my wife to have a healthy father and a husband.

Thank you to everyone who reads this…Barna

Hi, this is Leonor Kakonyi, Barna’s wife. These past couple of years, our family has been going thru the most significant challenge ever...where I see a robust and lovely husband and father going thru the most extensive trial a human could ever go in life. Fighting a tumor tirelessly with strong faith.

This fundraiser is to find a new dimension of the treatment my husband needs the soonest as possible so he can enjoy a new opportunity in life with our family. I am convinced that new doors will open for my husband's cure Thanks to our faith, your blessings and God’s mercy.