The King Family

I am starting this gofundme for a dear friend of mine, and her sweet family.

As friends, together we have faced and conquered many challenges and struggles in the past, supporting one another through whatever life throws at us.....But neither of us has been up against a battle like this. Melissa is a stay at home mother, with 11 children. Her husband Brian has worked hard to provide for his family, while she tended to the needs at home. After a routine colonoscopy, it was found that Brian has colon cancer....stage 3. The treatment is promising, but is almost a year long process. Throughout that time, he will be missing a substantial amount of work. And even then, his employer isn’t guaranteeing that his job will be held for him to return to when he is healthy enough to return full time. My poor friend is stretched so thin already...managing a home with 11 kids, coordinating Brian’s appointments, treatments, and medications....and now she has the added burden of figuring out how to keep a roof over their head, the lights on, and everyone fed.

Please consider giving even just $10....

every small amount helps.

Let’s all come together and be the literal answer to her prayers, and lighten her load so she can focus solely on getting Brian well again.

Below is the post that she made about Brian’s diagnosis:

8/25/22 At 1:30pm I took Brian in for a routine colonoscopy and we were told they found a mass. By 4pm we were in the lab getting STAT bloodwork, by 6pm we were in STAT CT at Chester County Hospital.

8/26, bloodwork looks great, tumor marker low and CT shows no spread. Praise God!

8/30 we get pathology results, invasive adenocarcinoma, Colorectal Cancer.

9/2 meet with one surgeon who says we need MRI to know how to proceed.

9/8 we go to Philadelphia for specialized MRI.

9/9 we met with Oncologist at Abramson Cancer Center and were told the MRI picked up 1-3 suspicious nodes. Putting the cancer at Stage3a T2N1M0. Not what we were hoping for but it could be so much worse so again PRAISE GOD, it’s still just at the bowel and possibly a couple of nodes.

Dr says this is treatable and we are going to tackle it as fast as we can. We have to meet with colorectal surgeon in Philadelphia first to see if they agree with the regimen the oncologist is recommending. Once that is done paperwork is sent to insurance and then we get appt for port to be placed, on to chemo and the road to recovery!

The regimen recommended will be what is known as TNT. Total Neoadjuvant Therapy. Brian will have eight rounds of FOLFOX over a total of four months, one week will be chemo infusion at cancer center then 46 hours hooked up to the pump at home. After the 46 hours a home nurse will come and unhook the chemo. This will be every other week, so one week chemo, one week rest for four months. After initial FOLFOX treatment then Brian will have a small break before starting radiation and chemo that will be done five days a week for five weeks, this chemo is called 5FU. Then another small break to allow for healing both inside and out from the effects from radiation and chemo and then finally surgery. The regimen’s goal is to try to reduce or eliminate all of the tumor prior to surgery. TNT is having a lot of success with complete elimination, so much so that some cancer centers are allowing patients to decide if they want surgery or if they want to take a wait and watch approach with close observation.

This diagnosis has not been easy to digest in two weeks time. Brian had no symptoms, works seven days a week and we thought we were just checking off our preventative medicine checkups for the year. So if you haven’t gotten your colonoscopy GET ONE! I’ve met so many people in their late 20’s early 30’s fighting this disease. It’s no longer a disease of the old.

Brian is of course concerned with being the provider as he has been with our family. It is a heavy burden he has carried for years providing for a family of 13. But I told him his job now is to be a good patient, follow doctors orders, allow the chemo and radiation to do it’s job and to focus on his healing and strength. This is going to be a long road, likely covering ten months for all treatment, surgery and recovery. I’m sure there will be some good days and probably some harder days, but I want him to focus on him and his healing and I’ll figure out the rest.

THANK YOU to the guys Brian plays hockey with every Wednesday at the YMCA. They surprised him Wednesday with blue ribbon pins and blue vinyl window stickers that say King and Kinger, to help show their love and support for him in this battle. It truly touched his heart and mine as well. It meant the world to him, truly he was so very touched. He loves his Wednesday night hockey nights, he loves all of you guys who have played with him all of these years.

As for comments, we want and only need POSITIVITY, we trust God that he has a plan and will carry us through. God laid it on my heart and mind to make Brian get his colonoscopy, when Brian didn’t want to do it and I believe that Divine intervention is what will help us start treatment and rid his body of this disease.

We trust our cancer center, they are ranked #1 in the entire Philadelphia region and #8 Nationally. We are so lucky to live where we are because the medical care available in our area is top notch!!

THANK YOU to those who have walked this path before us and are now sharing and supporting us these last two weeks and going forward. Thank you for taking some of the fear away because you have walked this journey and can be open and honest with us on what to expect along the way.

Prayers, we want them, need them and are grateful for them!!!!

We have NOT told the younger seven kids. They just know that Daddy needs special medicine and will need surgery at some point. They need not be worried with specifics, they just need to know that their Daddy is doing everything the doctor tells him to do to get all better.

So with that being said, CANCER SUCKS!!!