The End of a Long Road

As some of you know I've faced a rather difficult year centering around my cancer diagnosis in September of 2017. I went to the hospital with difficulty eating, vomiting, and severe abdominal pain. After an initial  scan they found a large mass in my abdomen and immediately suspected it was cancerous. The diagnosis was a non-seminomas germ cell tumor class 3C, in plain english, testicular cancer that had spread to my abdomen. The night I was admitted to the hospital I received a radical orchiectomy or surgical removal of  my affected testicle, shortly after I began chemotherapy treatment for the fast growing component of the large tumor remaining in my abdomen. Four month-long rounds of chemotherapy later my fast growing tumor was no longer an immediate threat, however the slower growing portion of my tumor does not respond to chemotherapy. I am currently awaiting yet another medical procedure to have the remaining slow growing tumor surgically removed. I am asking for help to cover costs associated with travel between home and New York City's Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital, where I will be receiving my final treatments as well as  expenses in the mean time as I am not working at the moment. I want to close this chapter of my life and get on living. I can't thank my family, friends, community and loving girlfriend enough for being there for me through some of the hardest times I've seen.

Below is a graph of my  alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) over the course of my treatment. AFP is a byproduct of the fast growing portion of my tumor, and is now within the acceptable range.