Jim and Alexis Solly (TEAM SOLLY)
In December, 2013, my young, vibrant husband and best friend, Jim, was diagnosed with colon cancer. There hasn’t been a moment gone by since that horrible day that cancer hasn’t lived in our home. For a short time, we thought the cancer had been beaten into remission, but it quickly came back. When it did, it was much more aggressive. It had metastasized to his liver, his abdomen, both lungs, and his lymph system.
We have battled this disease, and the financial burdens it brings with it, for nearly 5 years. Luckily, our health insurance has paid most of the medical bills; but the rising premiums, and out of pocket expenses have been more than we ever dreamed. All through these long years, full of debilitating chemo, radiation, and 16 surgeries, Jim has kept our landscape business afloat.
But Jim’s significantly diminished ability to keep our business producing at capacity over the past few years has tapped out every resource we once had. Our safety net has been spent keeping a roof over our head while income dwindled and expenses rose. Now Jim’s leg is swelling at an alarming rate, as the result of tumors in his groin lymph nodes. Walking is becoming uncomfortable; and soon, Jim will no longer be able to complete his physically-exhausting responsibilities to our customers. We are in the process of selling our business while it is still viable, but that will take many months or longer.
We don’t know what the next year holds for us, but we are not giving up our fight to beat this! Next week, because of the generosity of friends, Jim and I are able to travel to MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion.
It is not easy for either of us to swallow our pride and ask for help, but that’s the position we find ourselves in now. If we could find the financial support to ease our burden and stress about paying the mortgage and health insurance, we could dedicate our energy to finding a way to heal Jim.
We would be grateful beyond words.
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We have battled this disease, and the financial burdens it brings with it, for nearly 5 years. Luckily, our health insurance has paid most of the medical bills; but the rising premiums, and out of pocket expenses have been more than we ever dreamed. All through these long years, full of debilitating chemo, radiation, and 16 surgeries, Jim has kept our landscape business afloat.
But Jim’s significantly diminished ability to keep our business producing at capacity over the past few years has tapped out every resource we once had. Our safety net has been spent keeping a roof over our head while income dwindled and expenses rose. Now Jim’s leg is swelling at an alarming rate, as the result of tumors in his groin lymph nodes. Walking is becoming uncomfortable; and soon, Jim will no longer be able to complete his physically-exhausting responsibilities to our customers. We are in the process of selling our business while it is still viable, but that will take many months or longer.
We don’t know what the next year holds for us, but we are not giving up our fight to beat this! Next week, because of the generosity of friends, Jim and I are able to travel to MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion.
It is not easy for either of us to swallow our pride and ask for help, but that’s the position we find ourselves in now. If we could find the financial support to ease our burden and stress about paying the mortgage and health insurance, we could dedicate our energy to finding a way to heal Jim.
We would be grateful beyond words.
Hi everybody! We are past due with a Team Solly update, so here is a quick summary of what is going on with Jim and his cancer journey.
Through an extremely fortunate series of events, Jim was invited as one of only a handful of Americans to participate in a non-invasive, experimental treatment program in South America. He has been receiving this treatment since September, and so far, it has been a success! He immediately began feeling stronger, regaining his appetite and his energy. Today, you wouldn’t guess he was sick if you saw him for the first time, which is a big change over where we were 3 months ago. He has gained weight and muscle mass, and has a healthy “glow” in his face.
We had a pretty big, scary setback a few weeks ago, when he had to go to the emergency room with a dangerously swollen leg. His leg had been swelling for quite some time because of a tumor blockage, but it became critical in both size and in the level of pain he was experiencing. He was diagnosed with an enormous blood clot, which took a week in the hospital and 4 surgeries to clear. The good news is they were able to clear it, and are hopeful that the potential for future clots will be easily managed with a daily blood thinner medication. More good news is that the uncomfortable leg swelling he has been living with since July is going down! While his leg will probably never be the same size as the other one, the swelling and pain are much more tolerable with just a few lifestyle changes.
He had a PET scan a few weeks ago here in Miami to assess the spread of his disease. The in-house tests they have run on him at the clinic in Colombia indicate that we should be seeing improvements on the scan, and that appears to be the case! The tumor “shadows” are all still present, but the images show that the volume of the masses is decreasing! He is progressing exactly how the doctors at the clinic expected and hoped he would.
The treatment is intense, and requires him to live 50% of his time in Colombia; leaving him only two weeks per month at home to handle his business and home responsibilities. We are ever so thankful for the success of this GoFundMe, because it has made it possible for us to pursue this treatment for Jim up until now. Luckily, the treatment itself does not cost us anything. But the travel and expenses of living in a foreign country add up quickly. I have stopped going with him in an effort to reduce costs, but it’s hard for us to be apart during such a challenging time.
Overall, Jim is doing very well. He suffers from chronic pain, similar to sciatica back pain, due to the position of one of the tumors. I know this is very uncomfortable for him, but he never complains about it. He is optimistic and in good spirits, hopeful that this treatment is going to give him back his life. It is hard to be away from home for so long, and we really don’t know how long he will have to keep up this pace. Thankfully, our business customers are being patient with his inability to keep on schedule, but it causes him a lot of stress worrying about the neglected business and lack of income.
Thank you to our Team Solly friends for staying with us throughout this long journey. It is only because of your support - both emotionally and with your generous donations - that we have a reason to be hopeful today!
With all of our love and gratitude, Alexis and Jim
Through an extremely fortunate series of events, Jim was invited as one of only a handful of Americans to participate in a non-invasive, experimental treatment program in South America. He has been receiving this treatment since September, and so far, it has been a success! He immediately began feeling stronger, regaining his appetite and his energy. Today, you wouldn’t guess he was sick if you saw him for the first time, which is a big change over where we were 3 months ago. He has gained weight and muscle mass, and has a healthy “glow” in his face.
We had a pretty big, scary setback a few weeks ago, when he had to go to the emergency room with a dangerously swollen leg. His leg had been swelling for quite some time because of a tumor blockage, but it became critical in both size and in the level of pain he was experiencing. He was diagnosed with an enormous blood clot, which took a week in the hospital and 4 surgeries to clear. The good news is they were able to clear it, and are hopeful that the potential for future clots will be easily managed with a daily blood thinner medication. More good news is that the uncomfortable leg swelling he has been living with since July is going down! While his leg will probably never be the same size as the other one, the swelling and pain are much more tolerable with just a few lifestyle changes.
He had a PET scan a few weeks ago here in Miami to assess the spread of his disease. The in-house tests they have run on him at the clinic in Colombia indicate that we should be seeing improvements on the scan, and that appears to be the case! The tumor “shadows” are all still present, but the images show that the volume of the masses is decreasing! He is progressing exactly how the doctors at the clinic expected and hoped he would.
The treatment is intense, and requires him to live 50% of his time in Colombia; leaving him only two weeks per month at home to handle his business and home responsibilities. We are ever so thankful for the success of this GoFundMe, because it has made it possible for us to pursue this treatment for Jim up until now. Luckily, the treatment itself does not cost us anything. But the travel and expenses of living in a foreign country add up quickly. I have stopped going with him in an effort to reduce costs, but it’s hard for us to be apart during such a challenging time.
Overall, Jim is doing very well. He suffers from chronic pain, similar to sciatica back pain, due to the position of one of the tumors. I know this is very uncomfortable for him, but he never complains about it. He is optimistic and in good spirits, hopeful that this treatment is going to give him back his life. It is hard to be away from home for so long, and we really don’t know how long he will have to keep up this pace. Thankfully, our business customers are being patient with his inability to keep on schedule, but it causes him a lot of stress worrying about the neglected business and lack of income.
Thank you to our Team Solly friends for staying with us throughout this long journey. It is only because of your support - both emotionally and with your generous donations - that we have a reason to be hopeful today!
With all of our love and gratitude, Alexis and Jim
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