Help Michael Fight the Fight of his life
Donation protected
Michael, also known as Spaz has touched many of your hearts. He is a kind, loveable, patient man who wears his heart on his sleeve. If you know Spaz, you will know how much of a kind, gentle soul he is and you would know that he is always willing to go above and beyond for his family and his friends no matter what is going on in his own life. Spaz is incredibly modest and even now does not want a fuss made about him. Well, too bad Spaz! It’s time to make a fuss! It’s time to get some support. It’s time we all rally together to help this amazing 26-year-old fight the fight of his life!
On Monday the 25th of March Michael was raced to emergency at Shellharbour hospital by me. He was suffering excruciating stomach pain. After a lot of tests and agonising waiting it was confirmed that Michael had a perforated ulcer in his stomach. He was then rushed to Wollongong for emergency surgery. On arrival, they we were told that the Doctors were going to maintain him on pain relief and wait till they had a full team in the morning to do surgery. By this point it was already 1am in the morning.
By 7:30am Michael was finally going in for surgery. After a very long and anxious wait we got a phone call to say that Michael was out, and the surgery went well. He then spent around 10 days in hospital while they monitored his recovery. When he came home, he had trouble sleeping as he kept complaining about the pain in his shoulder. After much convincing he went back to the doctors and had radiographs done. On Tuesday April 9th he got his results and the doctor told him to go for a bone scan and MRI as there was something suspicious in his scan.
On April the 10th Michael was told the life-changing news. He had cancer throughout his body, and it had metastasised through the bone in his shoulder. Doctors were unsure at the source and recommended we seen an oncologist. The Doctor explained that the pattern of the cancer looked similar to that of testicular cancer. On April the 15th we finally got into see the oncologist and he wasn't convinced it was testicular. He sent Michael straight to the hospital to undergo gastroscopy to have a look at the stomach and to get a biopsy (the hospital did not get a biopsy when he had his ulcer). On Wednesday the 17th the tests came back and it was confirmed that Michael had stage 4 gastric cancer. The cancer is in the lining of his stomach, so surgery is not an option. At only 26 years-old, we were also told this cancer was very rare for someone his age.
He has been silently, yet positively fighting this battle for months now, and after 3 rounds of chemotherapy it was confirmed that the chemotherapy is unable to cure him, just prolong life. We don’t want this. We cannot accept this. We need a cure; Michael deserves a cure. The next step to try is something called ‘immunotherapy’. Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment which assists the body’s immune system to fight against the cancer cells. Only three year ago, this trial from America cured a patient in Australia with gastric cancer, similar to Michael’s cancer. Still to this day that patient remains in remission and this gives us hope. The only thing is devastatingly, the cost. This trial is expensive and while we are getting by now, Michael has understandably been unable to work since his initial diagnosis and the funds don’t stretch far enough to cover the costs of the Immunotherapy. Depending on his dose Michael is looking at $6000 - $9000 every 3 weeks. We need your help..
He’s kept his positive attitude and sense of humour intact as he faces something that no one should ever have to. Michael is only 26-years-old; he has so much life left to live, so many life experiences he deserves to have and so much more laughs to be had! We cannot thank you enough for just taking the time to read this and share his story. It means more than you will ever know. We are seeking donations through this ‘Go Fund Me’ to save Michael’s life. If you are able to help in some way, we would be forever grateful.
On Monday the 25th of March Michael was raced to emergency at Shellharbour hospital by me. He was suffering excruciating stomach pain. After a lot of tests and agonising waiting it was confirmed that Michael had a perforated ulcer in his stomach. He was then rushed to Wollongong for emergency surgery. On arrival, they we were told that the Doctors were going to maintain him on pain relief and wait till they had a full team in the morning to do surgery. By this point it was already 1am in the morning.
By 7:30am Michael was finally going in for surgery. After a very long and anxious wait we got a phone call to say that Michael was out, and the surgery went well. He then spent around 10 days in hospital while they monitored his recovery. When he came home, he had trouble sleeping as he kept complaining about the pain in his shoulder. After much convincing he went back to the doctors and had radiographs done. On Tuesday April 9th he got his results and the doctor told him to go for a bone scan and MRI as there was something suspicious in his scan.
On April the 10th Michael was told the life-changing news. He had cancer throughout his body, and it had metastasised through the bone in his shoulder. Doctors were unsure at the source and recommended we seen an oncologist. The Doctor explained that the pattern of the cancer looked similar to that of testicular cancer. On April the 15th we finally got into see the oncologist and he wasn't convinced it was testicular. He sent Michael straight to the hospital to undergo gastroscopy to have a look at the stomach and to get a biopsy (the hospital did not get a biopsy when he had his ulcer). On Wednesday the 17th the tests came back and it was confirmed that Michael had stage 4 gastric cancer. The cancer is in the lining of his stomach, so surgery is not an option. At only 26 years-old, we were also told this cancer was very rare for someone his age.
He has been silently, yet positively fighting this battle for months now, and after 3 rounds of chemotherapy it was confirmed that the chemotherapy is unable to cure him, just prolong life. We don’t want this. We cannot accept this. We need a cure; Michael deserves a cure. The next step to try is something called ‘immunotherapy’. Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment which assists the body’s immune system to fight against the cancer cells. Only three year ago, this trial from America cured a patient in Australia with gastric cancer, similar to Michael’s cancer. Still to this day that patient remains in remission and this gives us hope. The only thing is devastatingly, the cost. This trial is expensive and while we are getting by now, Michael has understandably been unable to work since his initial diagnosis and the funds don’t stretch far enough to cover the costs of the Immunotherapy. Depending on his dose Michael is looking at $6000 - $9000 every 3 weeks. We need your help..
He’s kept his positive attitude and sense of humour intact as he faces something that no one should ever have to. Michael is only 26-years-old; he has so much life left to live, so many life experiences he deserves to have and so much more laughs to be had! We cannot thank you enough for just taking the time to read this and share his story. It means more than you will ever know. We are seeking donations through this ‘Go Fund Me’ to save Michael’s life. If you are able to help in some way, we would be forever grateful.
Organizer
Taylar Mormile
Organizer
Marshall Mount NSW
