Hi my name is James Hunter, I'm a young man of 31 years old and i have Hodgkin's lymphoma for the past 5 years. My daily job is being a plumber which you can imagine becomes impossible when i need to start treatments. My whole life gets put on hold during a troubling time as is to make matters worse i have to step away from work also. During these times i have to find ways to make ends meat and just stay afloat all while dealing with the troubles that come with treatment. As you can imagine all of this has become a major financial burden to the point i have destroyed my good credit and no longer have any savings or rainy day money just incase.

My first round of treatment was (abvd) which at the time was working and had me cancer free by the end of it. I was super excited that i had beat this dangerous disease and could go back to living a normal life again. After follow up scans to make sure i was still cancer free a year later it had come back. I was extremely frustrated, mad, and confused as to why this has happen again. With the anger in me coupled with the sadness and many other emotions running wild i started to become very depressed. As we started the second round of treatments (ice) my oncologist said it would be good to talk to a shrink. The shrink was not much of a help but did tell me i should find some Hobbies to keep my mind off of whats going on. I tried many things but none really seem to help me till i started to play around with video editing. As a young man i use to do many things like play sports snowboard ect. During these times we would record are adventures so we could watch it later. I could no longer do this stuff so while video editing i kinda got good at it and was enjoying it so i started to look into how i might be able to make a living off of this. Before i was able to get deep enough into it my laptop crashed the GPU and CPU fried as it was very low grade equipment and the video editing was to much for it to handle. With it just being a hobby at the time and no money to buy a new laptop i put the idea on the shelf and focused on what mattered at the time getting better and figuring out how to make ends meat with no income. The second round of treatments did not work at all i was extremely upset and became even more depressed. I decided to go back to work to help me clear my mind and also try to catch up on past due bills. My only option at the time was try another version of chemo therapy and see what happens. I decided to wait and see what type of new treatments would come out in the next year or so. In the mean time i tried home remedies to keep me going. As time went by and things started to get worse i knew i had to suck it up and get back in for new treatments before i died. This time i tried a new oncologist and new hospital i went to MGH from BMC with my luck over the past year a few new version of treatments had come out. The name of this new treatment was called Adcetris or also called Brentuximab i was very interested as this was a new advance version of treatments. I just recently started this treatment in September and with the side effects i had to once again walk away from work. Broke as is, no means of an income i had to move in with family members as i could no provide for myself. With the cancer spreading as much as it did this would be a very long round of treatment meaning i would not be able to go back to work in a long time. I started to think to myself i really need to make a change in my work life but even a desk job might have an issue with me having to take so many days off for all the appointments i have to go to. Then i remembered about the video editing and started to look into how i could make money off of it and came across websites that are looking for free lancers in the field and you work from home or even the hospital when i am taken my 8 hr treatment. This was great till i realized i don't have a laptop to do the work or the money to buy a proper laptop or the money to take the certification test so clients know i am qualified to handle the work they need done. After some research and crunching the numbers as low as i could i would need a total of $2,500 to get the equipment, software and certification to be able to make this life change that could turn into a new career for me. So incase Mr. Cancer decided to show up again in life at least I'll be prepared and ready to not dig myself into a deeper financial hole. Now I don't know if this new adventure i am trying to set out on will work out or not but with my drive passion and all the free time i will have as i am basically stuck in the house do to the side effects i have that make my legs so weak that they give out when i walk sometimes plus the normal issue that come with chemo treatments. I am looking forward to given it my all and see what the out come is.

Thanks for taken the time to read my story and troubles i have been dealing with these past 5-6 years. Any donation big or small will help me reach my goal. I wish you a great day and happy healthy life.