First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to visit my GoFundMe page. I created this fundraiser to help my family and me offset some of the medical costs and travel costs associated with my ongoing cancer journey.

In 2018, I was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of appendix cancer. By the time I was diagnosed, the cancer had spread all over my abdominal cavity. It was stage 4, and I was facing a long, hard battle. I underwent chemotherapy in late 2018, and in February of 2019, I had very invasive surgery to remove all of the tumors in and around my abdominal area. The surgery lasted 14 hours, and the recovery was challenging, to say the least, but I got through it.

All was good until April of 2020 when I was given the news that the cancer had returned. Now, not only were we dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, but we were dealing with cancer again. I was placed on an oral chemotherapy medication for part of 2020 and all of 2021. The chemotherapy pills worked for a while. They helped slow down the growth of the tumors, but eventually, it stopped working, and I was again facing another long, very invasive surgery. In March of 2022, I had a 17-hour operation to remove the tumors that had again appeared in my abdominal cavity. This time around, my doctor had to remove my spleen and about a foot of my large intestine.

All was well until July of this year when I was again told that the cancer was back. This time, however, I was told that I have a tumor growing very close to my liver and close to a major artery. Surgery this time around was deemed too risky and dangerous, so I was rejected for surgery. My medical oncologist told me that chemotherapy was no longer a good option either since it had not really done much for me. That brings me to my current situation. My surgeon passed me along to my medical oncologist, who also passed me along to the clinical trial department at MD Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston, where I have been treated for the past 6 years. I just qualified for a phase 1 clinical trial. It is a targeted therapy, meaning that the medication they will be infusing into my body is designed to attack only cancer cells. There are, of course, no guarantees that it will work, but my options are very limited, and this clinical trial is worth trying.

Between now and December 31st, I have 18 appointments already scheduled up in Houston. It is going to involve a lot of traveling to Houston almost weekly. I do have medical insurance, but it does not cover all of my ongoing medical expenses. It is going to be very expensive to travel to Houston so often. I'm looking for assistance to help cover the cost of medical bills and travel-related expenses as well as loss of income. I rely on my photography business to help pay our monthly bills, and being up in Houston so many days is going to affect my photography income. My wife no longer has sick days, so moving forward, she is going to be docked for each day that she is absent from work.

The cancer journey has taken a toll on our finances over the course of the last 6 years, but we have managed to somehow work through it with the help of family and friends. I pray for the day that I am cancer-free, but for now, I have no choice but to keep fighting for my life and do believe that eventually, the day will come when I am cancer-free. Thank you so much for your donations. Please feel free to reach out to me should you have any questions about my cancer journey.