Help Tyler beat Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Donation protected
My name is Jennifer Basden and my husband Tyler Basden was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma in February 2016. With Tyler only being 27 and the two of us only being married for four months, finding out he had cancer was the last thing we ever expected. Tyler had discovered a painless lump under his left armpit in January 2016 that would not go away. Between the lump and the night sweats we knew something was wrong. After undergoing blood work the doctor's were still unsure as to what would be causing this lump and the possiblily of him having cancer entered our brains for the first time. Tyler was schduled to have the lump in his armpit biopsied. Tyler and I were still in denial, believing it would be an infection of some sort. However, after the biopsy was completed the surgeon came out to the waiting room and told me he had been doing this for many years, and although the tumor had not yet been tested, he knew Tyler had cancer.
After this news, everything began happening so quickly. We received the call confirming the biopsy results, that Tyler did in fact have Hodgkin's disease. He went in for his first PET scan and we were told he had active disease in his armpit, neck, chest and lower back making it stage 4. He started chemotherapy the first week of March. Although we were terrified for Tyler to start chemo, we had a lot of faith that it would work. We were told ABVD chemotherapy cures 80% of all Hodgkin's Lymphoma patients. Tyler underwent a total of 12 rounds ABVD chemotherapy finally completing treatment in August. We went into his final PET scan with high hopes as other scans we had throughout the treatments showed he was responding well. However, we were heartbroken to find that there was still some activity in his chest. It was such minimal activity the doctor's decided we would wait six weeks and rescan to see if the tumor would continue to shrink on its own. When the scan came we received the very sad news that not only did it not shrink, it has started to grow and a new spot was forming in his neck. The doctor's then told us Tyler would need to undergo an Auto Stem Cell Transplant, and once again our world came crashing down. But, we did what we needed to do. We processed this new news and put our fighting faces back on. The doctor's explained for the best results with a stem cell transplant, Tyler would need to receive a clean scan before going into the transplant. We began another chemotherapy and finally some good news! After only two rounds Tyler received a clean scan on November 17, 2016!
Tyler and I are now preparing for his stem cell transplant at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. On Saturday December 3rd , 2016 Tyler will began getting shots to help "wake up" his stem cells. After four days of receiving shots, Tyler will be strapped to a machine that his blood will filter through and his stem cells will be collected. Once he has enough stem cells collected they will be frozen. Tyler will need about a week to recover from this and then on December 14th, 2016 Tyler will undergo high dose, invasive chemotherapy for six days. This is outpatient chemotherapy but he will need to remain in Rochester for the entire six days and will need to have a caregiver (myself) by his side the entire time. On the sixth day of chemo he will be admitted into the hospital where he will remain for two - three weeks. The doctor's will need to monitor the effects of this chemo (which will be like the worst flu you can imagine) as well as begin to put his collected stem cells back into his body as the chemo will have killed all the ones in his body previously. Tyler and I will be in the hospital over Christmas and will hopefully be able to come home the first week of January. Tyler has been out of work since February and because of this procedure will need to continue to be out of work for another three - six months.
So far, Tyler and I have done the best we can financially, on our own. However, now I will need to take almost the entire month of December off work to be with him in the hospital which means we will have very little, to no money coming in. Also with January around the corner we will need to begin paying out of pocket for our medical expenses again until we have paid thousands of dollars and our insurance will start to cover it. And lastly, Tyler and I received the horrible news that we will never be able to conceive naturally. Being a young, married couple this breaks us apart. Luckily, we did sperm banking when he was first diagnosed so our dreams of being able to have a baby some day are not completely shattered. However, IVF is extremely expensive. Any money donated from this fund will help me be able to stay in the hospital with Tyler throughout this process rather than having to work, will help us pay down our piling medical bills and anything left over will be put away to help us have a baby when the time comes.
I understand this is a hard time of year to donate with Christmas right around the corner and if you can't, still thank you for taking the time to read our story and if you could share this page that would be very much appreciated. For those of you who can donate, every penny helps more than you know!
After this news, everything began happening so quickly. We received the call confirming the biopsy results, that Tyler did in fact have Hodgkin's disease. He went in for his first PET scan and we were told he had active disease in his armpit, neck, chest and lower back making it stage 4. He started chemotherapy the first week of March. Although we were terrified for Tyler to start chemo, we had a lot of faith that it would work. We were told ABVD chemotherapy cures 80% of all Hodgkin's Lymphoma patients. Tyler underwent a total of 12 rounds ABVD chemotherapy finally completing treatment in August. We went into his final PET scan with high hopes as other scans we had throughout the treatments showed he was responding well. However, we were heartbroken to find that there was still some activity in his chest. It was such minimal activity the doctor's decided we would wait six weeks and rescan to see if the tumor would continue to shrink on its own. When the scan came we received the very sad news that not only did it not shrink, it has started to grow and a new spot was forming in his neck. The doctor's then told us Tyler would need to undergo an Auto Stem Cell Transplant, and once again our world came crashing down. But, we did what we needed to do. We processed this new news and put our fighting faces back on. The doctor's explained for the best results with a stem cell transplant, Tyler would need to receive a clean scan before going into the transplant. We began another chemotherapy and finally some good news! After only two rounds Tyler received a clean scan on November 17, 2016!
Tyler and I are now preparing for his stem cell transplant at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. On Saturday December 3rd , 2016 Tyler will began getting shots to help "wake up" his stem cells. After four days of receiving shots, Tyler will be strapped to a machine that his blood will filter through and his stem cells will be collected. Once he has enough stem cells collected they will be frozen. Tyler will need about a week to recover from this and then on December 14th, 2016 Tyler will undergo high dose, invasive chemotherapy for six days. This is outpatient chemotherapy but he will need to remain in Rochester for the entire six days and will need to have a caregiver (myself) by his side the entire time. On the sixth day of chemo he will be admitted into the hospital where he will remain for two - three weeks. The doctor's will need to monitor the effects of this chemo (which will be like the worst flu you can imagine) as well as begin to put his collected stem cells back into his body as the chemo will have killed all the ones in his body previously. Tyler and I will be in the hospital over Christmas and will hopefully be able to come home the first week of January. Tyler has been out of work since February and because of this procedure will need to continue to be out of work for another three - six months.
So far, Tyler and I have done the best we can financially, on our own. However, now I will need to take almost the entire month of December off work to be with him in the hospital which means we will have very little, to no money coming in. Also with January around the corner we will need to begin paying out of pocket for our medical expenses again until we have paid thousands of dollars and our insurance will start to cover it. And lastly, Tyler and I received the horrible news that we will never be able to conceive naturally. Being a young, married couple this breaks us apart. Luckily, we did sperm banking when he was first diagnosed so our dreams of being able to have a baby some day are not completely shattered. However, IVF is extremely expensive. Any money donated from this fund will help me be able to stay in the hospital with Tyler throughout this process rather than having to work, will help us pay down our piling medical bills and anything left over will be put away to help us have a baby when the time comes.
I understand this is a hard time of year to donate with Christmas right around the corner and if you can't, still thank you for taking the time to read our story and if you could share this page that would be very much appreciated. For those of you who can donate, every penny helps more than you know!
Organizer
Jennifer Basden
Organizer
Syracuse, NY
