William (Navy Vet) and Evan's Cancer Fund

Hi, my name is Evan McDermott, William's partner, and we are fundraising for living expenses, future medical costs, debt relief, and quality of life improvements. In short: After beating our initial bout with cancer, William has received a terminal diagnosis of sarcoma (cancer #2) where there are no treatments left to try. We are trying to recover from the impact that cancer has had on our family over the last 4 years while improving the quality of life he has now and making the most of the time we have left together. Here's our full story. Full story: Origins: We met in late 2018 when neither of us were looking for anything serious. I was a high school English teacher working in Fontana, CA and he was an active-duty Navy serviceman stationed at Edwards Airforce Base in Southern California. Despite our lack of intentions, we quickly realized that we had inadvertently found exactly what we didn't know we were looking for in each other. 2019: Fast forward to March 2019 when William began complaining about severe chain in his shoulder, to the point where it was chronic. After much poking and prodding to get it checked out, William had x-rays done on base that found an irregular lump located inside his chest. Further testing found that it was a cancerous tumor called a Mediastinal Germ Cell Tumor. As quickly as one expects of the military, William was then placed in the care of City of Hope for chemotherapy treatment set to begin shortly after our first birthday trip to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. 2 days prior to the trip, William was doubled over in pain and I rushed him to a nearby ER where they had to perform an emergency thoracentesis, draining 4 liters of fluid from his right lung and essentially cancelling our trip. We started his chemotherapy treatment immediately and moved in together in Victorville, CA so I could become his primary caretaker. His treatment varied from 8 hour day, 4 day a week outpatient sessions throughout summer to 5-day in-patient treatment periodically that lasted until December. Finally, his numbers were within a reasonable range that they scheduled surgery to remove the still remaining and expanding teratoma tumor that still posed a threat to his vital organs: January 6th, 2020. 2020: Surgery day arrived and we had the support of friends and family, just before CoVID hit. The surgery took over 8 hours and the doctor even requested permission to remove one of his lungs, if necessary, to remove the tumor. Thankfully, the removal was successful and they only had to remove the lower lobe of his right lung. Now started our journey of recovery and weening of the opioids he had been prescribed to deal with the pain before and during chemo. Due to CoVID, I was able to teach from home and we were able to get by despite minimal interactions from others due to social distancing. It was a long, slow, painful, and often frustrating process for the both of us, but there was light at the end of the tunnel. Continued scans and tests showed no causes for concern and we began to think about life after cancer. 2021: With the end of William's military contract on the horizon and his health improving, we made plans to move to Seattle, WA at the end of my school year and have a fresh start post-cancer. Of course, due to CoVID and requests for medical separation and retirement from the Navy, William's official release was delayed. Nevertheless, we found a place in West Seattle where we arranged to move in starting in August. While we moved most of our stuff together, William and some of our belongings had to remain in SoCal due to still not being released from the military. Finally, at the end of November we got the final paperwork from the military releasing William from duty and allowing him to join me in Seattle. The separation ended but we were still battling chronic pain in his legs and body thought to be residual from the surgery, chemotherapy, and prior tumor. 2022: Still feeling the impact from CoVID society complications, William wasn't able to get into the VA here in Seattle for quite some time. We sought help to treat his chronic pain which was not getting better as time passed. Initial x-rays indicated some areas of concern on his pelvis and right femur that prompted follow-up appointments for further testing. Suspected mixed lytic and sclerotic bone metastases (holes). Cancer markers were low though. May 25th, his birthday, he went in for a biopsy on his left pelvic bone. June 10th: I receive a text message from Will that the biopsy results came back- sarcoma. Full Diagnosis information: His previous tumor metastasized throughout his chest and in his liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. Sarcoma is the cancer of the soft tissues of the body (in his case), rather than specific organs. Evaluation of his mitotic figures (MFs) graded it as a poorly differentiated high grade cancer. Prognosis: Incurable, but treatable. Treatment required: full body in-patient chemotherapy with out-patient follow-up. Possible need to stabilize right femur prior to chemotherapy due to holes in the bone, on advice from orthopedist. Tests and X-Rays showed lesions on his right femur, left pelvis, and spleen causing concern of his stability. Chemotherapy was started in July, ranging in oral to out-patient to in-patient treatments, and cycled through one by one as results kept coming back that the cancer was showing no response to treatment. There were intermittent pauses in chemotherapy for radiation treatment to try and address the localized pain, which turned out to only be a temporary fix. October is when we first heard that we were running out of options. I, Evan, applied and was approved for Family Medical Leave of Absence (FMLA) with partial reimbursement from the state for days taken off. 2023: Chemo treatment was still being administered through oral and in-patient treatments. Come May, William's breathing started to become extremely labored and was being scheduled for diagnostics. William was admitted prior to having his bronchoscopy due to low oxygen levels and elevated heart rate. Tests showed William's lung left lung had a recurrence of fluid and needed draining (thoracentesis). His Oncologist met with us in the hospital and informed us that this side effect was an indication that his current chemotherapy needed to be stopped and that there were no more chemotherapies left for us to try. William was going to be transitioned off of chemotherapy and onto hospice. William's days ahead consist of periodic in-home visits from his hospice care team for continuous pain management, 24/7 oxygen support, and minimal physical activity. Support: • Moving situation. Currently we are living in a 3rd floor, 2 story apartment in West Seattle that does not have an elevator. We are needing to move to a more accessible and affordable home where William will not have mobility issues. The challenge that this presents in in both costs associated with moving (moving truck/boxes or movers) and initial move-in costs (first/last rent and security deposit). • Future medical costs include the purchase of a personal portable oxygen concentrator that is not guaranteed through the VA. Alternative medical treatments that are not supported nor funded through the VA such as accupuncture for pain management are also avenwe would like to explore. • Debt relief to help cover the growing debt we have incurred while waiting for the VA to re-evaluate William's disability payments. Since being classified as "in remission" back in 2021, William was granted less that $1500 in disability payments as the VA assumed William would be able to rejoin the work force in his current state. When he was re-diagnosed with sarcoma in June 2022 , we filed for re-evaluation of his status to increase his disability payments which, to this day, has yet to be processed. William got a part-time job for 4 months to try and lessen the financial load but ultimately had to quit as he was not able to keep up with the physical demands of his job. My teacher's salary has been just enough for us to be able to pay all of our bills every month, but any additional expenses beyond the living necessities have had to be put on credit cards. The interests payments from these cards has grown to an amount we can no longer manage. • One of the more personal reasons we are looking for support is an improvement to the quality of life we have. With no additional financial resources available to us, we have been extremely limited in what we have been able to do to "enjoy life". We have discussed getting married but have not been able to even begin organizing, or even secure rings for each other, because of our financial situation. William has been longing to travel back to San Diego to see some of the friends and family we left behind in our move in addition to traveling to places neither of us have been to "see the world". We have a close knit support system of friends in our community who have enabled us to enjoy little things here and there but we would like to not be a burden on them while still able to participate with the group. Thank you for taking the time to read our story and for any and all ways you can support us! **Link to our Meal Train to support us in arranging meals**