Kevin's Brain Has a Tumor-Shucks!

This is my brother Kevin (and myself and our nephew Liam): 

As you can see, he is all of the following things: young, strong, in the U.S Army and secretly harboring a tumor inside of his brain.  You can't see the last one, but it's still, he discovered a little over a year ago, as true as the first 3 things. 

Before we talk about the story of Kevin's diagonis, here's a little more background about him as a person. He's my younger brother and since the day he was born, or even before that (my first memory is touching my mom's 9 month pregnant belly in our brand new house in Brooklyn Park), I knew I had to look out for him. Here's a picture of us as kids (a long with our older brother, Casey).

I spent a majority of my childhood watching one of those two guys playing hockey, baseball, or soccer. Or, sitting in the kitchen playing games (mostly Monopoly or Poker), video games (I didn't get to actually play that much-a lot of watching), or in our front yard playing hot box, homerun derby or jumping on our trampoline. Kevin and I hung out a lot as kids and although he was my younger brother-he always let me tag along (what a nice guy). 

In 2011, Kevin joined the United States Army Reserves and spent the next couple of years training to become a combat medic and Licensed Nurse Practitioner. There, he met his wife Lesley, who, although they met in Texas, happened to also be from Brooklyn Park, MN (how crazy is that). Here's a wedding photo: 


Lesley is also in the US Army Reserves and an LPN. They are both in school to get their RN's and work as LPN's in local hospital's/clinics. Kevin is an ER tech nurse at WestHealth. 

Shortly after they got married, Kevin went to the doctor to get checked out after experiencing some alarming symptoms. A blood test showed that he was producing little to no testosterone, and an MRI showed it's cause: a small tumor located right smack dab in the middle of his brain next to his pituitary gland. After a year of medicating symptoms, he got an appointment at the Mayo Clinic for a 2nd opinion and within another week Kevin was under the knife having a craniotomy to get a biopsy of the 1.3 cm mass wreaking havoc on his hormones. Here's a picture of me waiting for upwards of 7 hours in the ICU waiting room in the Neurosurgery Wing of St. Mary's Hospital: 


After another week of waiting, healing and worrying (is it cancer?) we got a diagnoses (not definitive, but close enough).

Here's a picture of the gnarly scar: 



The tumor is being treated as a Pilocytic Astrocytoma (again, the diagnosis is not definitive). It's located on his pituitary gland which is the "master gland" that produces testosterone, thyroid, cortisol (the most concerning-he now has to carry around an emergency cortisol shot (think EpiPen) to administer in case of major injury or illness) and steroids. The gland is currently still functioning (barely) but once it completely fails, he will have to have another brain surgery to remove the tumor which will, in conjunction, be at the "expense" (this is the word the neurosurgeon used in his post-op meeting with my family and I) of the pituitary gland. This means a lifetime of taking these hormones in some form (pills, shots, patches, etc). The tumor also sits on the hypothalamus which is an extremely important part of the brain. Kevin hasn't gotten too far into discussions about what the affect the tumor could have upon this part of his brain, but they would not be good. Hopefully we won't have to go there. That is the gist of what he's got going on inside his head (which I actually got to see (the inside of his head), as the neurosurgeon showed us a video (!!!) of the surgery during the post-op meeting.)

So, a summary of why I started this gofundme. The cost of neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic: ALOT. Kevin's army insurance is pretty good (he hasn't received what insurance will pay for), however, he will be out of work for at least 6 weeks. Lesley also had to take time off of work to take care of Kevin. 

Lost wages due to surgery (including not being able to return to full time work): $5,000
Many, many trips between the Twin Cities and Rochester (gas, hotel stays): $2,000
2nd brain surgery (another 6 weeks out of work): $3,000-$4,000
A lifetime of medication, dr. visits, blood draws and MRI's: ????

Compounded by the fact that years of playing soccer goalie has left Kevin with 2 bad hips which ALSO require surgery, it would be a true mitzvah (that's the Jewish terminology for "good deed") if you'd be able to help with some of these expenses. 

Kevin and Lesley are reluctant to ask anyone for money, however, we heard that people were interested in donating after hearing his story, either from him or one of his family members, or through his CaringBridge site (Kevin's CaringBridge), so we decided to set up this site. 

The generosity of the human spirit is one of our best features as people, and although it feels awkward receiving money, it also feels amazing to know that other people are willing to help in any way possible. 

Thank you for just taking the time to read this story. 

Thank you if you do donate because every dollar takes a little bit of pressure off of Kevin and Lesley's shoulders.

Thank you from our entire family.