Bruce’s Brave Bowel Cancer Battle!

In Short:

Our 64 year old mum, Diane, is semi-disabled having serious mobility issues, our 69 year old dad, Bruce,  is her carer and he has been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer. He has been unable to work since April 2018 due to the endless medical appointments and is the sole financial provider. We’re reaching out for help so that we can help to ease their financial strain as they are going through their life savings at a great pace. As you may well imagine, medical treatment combined with never ending bills take an extreme financial toll. My brother and I help out wherever possible but medical costs & living costs far exceed what we are able to realistically contribute. Any donations given will go towards medical bills, treatment & day to day living.  

Dad’s Situation:

April 2018, this is when our lives were completely turned upside down. This is when our wonderful loving Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer. Bowel cancer or colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia and the second biggest cancer killer in the world. 

Dad exhibited zero symptoms except for a mild pain in his tummy which he thought was a strain. The ultrasound proved otherwise & further tests showed that he did in fact have cancer in his bowel which had also spread to his liver & abdominal wall. Dad stopped working and immediately began chemotherapy. Every fortnight he travelled to the hospital and had chemo infused through an IV. He then wore a chemotherapy bottle connected to a port in his chest for an additional 48hrs at home. The treatment will be indefinite. The first type of chemo given caused serious neuropathy in his throat, hands & feet. This caused damage to the nerves in his fingertips, whereby he was unable to even button his shirt properly. 

His oncologist changed his medication to avoid further nerve damage. Unfortunately the new chemo treatment caused Dad to feel very ill and bedridden so this treatment had to be tweaked. The medicine given to combat the nausea produced side effects of their own. The inability to sleep for days on end & then a sudden crash is one. 

During the first type of chemo treatment Dad would receive fortnightly blood tests to measure his progress. His cancer markers were coming down continuously & his oncologist remarked that it was remarkable & highly unusual. When he changed to the other treatment, his cancer markers started to go back up. His oncologist then told dad just before Christmas that if the cancer markers continued to rise, he might only have 6 months to live. A CT scan was done to compare the results with his blood tests. Fortunately it was found that the tumours weren’t growing as rapidly as his blood tests would have you believe and Dad was then given a prognosis of 3-4 years. 

On the 11th of February, the roller coaster that we were all on would start to plummet again. Dad began cramping up and then the pain absolutely intensified. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance where it would then be found that the primary tumour in his bowel had wrapped itself around his appendix & perforated his bowel. Essentially his bowel had ruptured causing peritonitis and sepsis, a life threatening infection in his abdomen. Dad had major surgery to remove this mass, the appendix & part of his bowel. He then had an ileostomy bag fitted. During the surgery, the surgeon also removed several other nodules from his abdominal wall. Dad has continued to show that he is an absolute fighter and even left the ICU ahead of schedule. After a few weeks in hospital he was transferred to a rehabilitation facility to continue his recovery. 

In May, Dad was booked in to have the Ileostomy Bag reversed because it was seemingly causing a lot of pain. During surgery, a tumour was found hiding behind the stoma bag (this was the pain he’d been feeling) and as a result, he unexpectedly required another bowel resection. After almost 4 weeks he is still in hospital having contended with a number of obstacles that have set back his recovery. Currently he is dealing with a small bowel blockage which has meant he has been nil by mouth on/off and receiving nutrients by an IV. He continues to show how strong he is and we are all so proud of him. Dad remains positive despite everything that has been thrown at him. Unfortunately though, it is becoming more apparent that with the continual medical issues that arise, our dad won’t be able to work again for some time & is therefore unable to provide financially. 

Mum’s Situation:

Our mum has severe osteoarthritis and over the years she has had numerous surgeries to assist with mobility. She does not work due to her ailments and relies on our dad to support them financially. She has had a knee replacement, a hip replacement and both her feet fused. The foot fusion surgery entailed having her archilles cut & reattached and the use of numerous screws to fuse the bones together. Recovery requires a patient to non weight bare for a period of no less than 3 months per foot and then to go to rehabilitation sessions for many months afterwards. 

To make matters more challenging, Mum is a type 1 diabetic with neuropathy damage and unfortunately when she had her second foot fused, she contracted a staphylococcal infection which significantly delayed the healing time of her foot and increased the risk of complications. Just recently she has been diagnosed with lymphedema, a lymphatic system blockage which is a condition where excess fluid collects in tissues causing swelling. The excessive swelling affects her balance and was possibly caused by the staph infection. Mum has had several falls due to her balance issues and relies heavily on my dad to help her to get to appointments, etc. She also uses mobility aids to help her walk such as canes and trolleys. In certain situations mum requires her wheelchair to assist her as she no longer has confidence to walk in unfamiliar places because she is afraid she will lose her balance and fall. 

Our Wish:

We want our parents to solely focus on their health and to not stress about their financial situation but that is sadly easier said than done.  They would never ask for donations as they are both very proud people but now more than ever, they need to accept help. They are both wonderful,  very generous people who have always given to others including sponsoring a child through World Vision for 20 years. They would give their last dollar to help their family and we just want to be able to help take away some of their burden. Any amount would be greatly appreciated beyond words and if you can’t donate, could you please put our parents in your thoughts & prayers.  Thank you so much for taking the time to read about our parent’s plight.

- Courtney Flanagan (Lang) and Dean Lang on behalf of their parents Bruce & Diane Lang.