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Help me while I battle Cancer

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I am currently battling stage 4 squamous cell cancer of the lymph nodes and tonsils in my neck. I was diagnosed about 10 months ago and and had to have surgery to have my tonsils removed and eight healthy rear teeth removed because of damage I would get from the radiation treatments to my neck. I had to have a second surgery to put a chemo port in my chest, & a feeding tube in my stomach because my mouth got so damaged from the radiation that I wasn't able to eat for a long time.

I continued working through 8 weeks of radiation treatments every day and chemo treatments once a week. I finally had to quit working when I got so weak I couldn't even walk. I lost approximately 2 months of work from the surgeries and from getting sick from the treatment.

I have completed my treatments and am working again. I have lost 100 pounds due to the difficulties I had eating and continue to have because I have no rear teeth to chew with. The radiation treatments made me lose my sense of taste which I am slowly getting back. It also killed my saliva glands so I have constant dry mouth and must carry water with me everywhere I go.

As soon as I went back to work that same week the transmission went out in my wifes car and it cost $4,500 to repair it. I obviously couldn't afford that so I had to ask my dad for help which he did. Then, three months ago I had my follow-up PET scan to see if the cancer was gone. Unfortunately it was not. My doctors consulted each other and decided that they would wait an additional 3 months to see if the cancer was gone. I had that PET scan on January 4th and unfortunately the cancer is still there and my doctor is considering surgery as the final option. If I have to have surgery I will have to miss work again which I financially can't afford as I have run all my credit cards up to the maximum and on top of that my wife just got laid off at her job that she has had for 27 years and is only two and a half years away from retirement but will lose all of your benefits since we cannot move to another location due to my cancer treatments. We found out that news just before Christmas and were only able to publicly announce it yesterday because the company wanted to keep it secret. Fortunately I'm retired from the Navy and have good health insurance and have received about a million dollars worth of treatment that was mostly covered and I've only incurred several hundred dollars out of my pocket in copays. But just yesterday while I was delivering my first pizza of the day my alternator died and my cars in the shop and I need that car to work. Also because as I said my wife is getting laid off in two weeks, and if anything else happens or I need surgery and need to miss more work I am literally out of ways to pay for things. Any help you give no matter how small will be greatly appreciated and be put to good use.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and considering helping me and my family.
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Donations 

  • Sonni Hopkins
    • $50 
    • 8 yrs
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Organizer

Greg Maschok
Organizer
Chesapeake, VA

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