Sloan Ketering Surgery
Donation protected
Hello Everyone! First and foremost, i want to thank everyone for all of your love and support during my bone marrow transplants, i am proud to report that i am currently in remission from my cancer!
I do however have a mass in my abdomen that is 5.8cm (the size of a lime) that presses on the nerves in my back and causes me significant discomfort. It has been there since my initial diagnosis and for some reason will not respond to all of the different types of chemo that the doctors have thrown at it (and there have been a ton of different tyes of chemo, believe me).
The surgerical team in Baltimore said that they do not have a lot of experience with this particular type of surgery, retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, but the surgerical team at the New York hospital, Sloan Ketering, has one of the best teams in the country for this particular surgery. The surgeon in Baltimore said that because of where the mass is located his primary concern is that i will lose, 1 or both of my kidneys and would require lifelong dialysis, as a result of the surgery. My oncologist sent images of the mass to the team in New York and they feel confident that they can successfully remove the mass, with hopefully very few after effects.
It is a non-cancerous teratoma at the moment, but in time could become a more severe form of cancer. I returned to work the first week of November, 1 month after my 2nd bone marrow transplant and have been working full time since my return. This trip to New York was something that they had mentioned in the past but was more of an idea than a definite plan, but when i got the call this past Friday that they would like me to come up there next Thursday, 10/01/15, for an initial consult with their surgerical team, i did not hesitate to accept. At this point, surgery is my last viable option, outside of more of the same chemo, which as i mentioned before has not been very effective in eliminating this threat to my body. I am asking for everyone's help once again to assist me with offsetting the cost of this unforeseen expense. I know that i will at minimum be required to make the trip twice, once for the initial consult and then again for the actual surgery (if all goes well and they can pull it off, crossing my fingers) but drawing from my rather vast experience with hospitals, it will more than likely take several trips back and forth. I mapped it out and the trip itself is a little over 160 miles one way, which is not too bad, but i have to traverse the New Jersey Turnpike and New York traffic so my plan is to get a cheap hotel somewhere near the hospital and head down the night before, this is mostly to avoid having a heart attack trying to make it to my appointment on time.
I appreciate everything that each and every one of you has done for me and my family as we have been going through these difficult times. It has not been easy on any them, but thanks to the beautiful generosity of individuals like yourselves, it has helped to alleviate the financial aspects of this burden.
One thing i have learned throughout my almost 2 year struggle with cancer, getting diagnosed, then going in remission, relapsing back, remission again, all of the ups and downs of chemo and the hospitals and the medication and their side effects, all of it, the whole sha-bang....none of it matters; when you look around at what is "supposed" to be the prime of your life, your mid 20s and im weak, sick, lying in a hospital bed, i stop and i realize....... that this is where i am at the moment. There was no where else that i was meant to be than right here, right now. This is merely one moment in a book of everpassing memories. I am loved. I have all of my family, alive, well, and with me. I have my loving friends. I have a good job. I am still here. Living! Breathing! Typing on a crowd funding website!
I have learned how to just be. Thats it. Live and enjoy the moment that you have, right here, right now because you cannot know when it will be your time to be no more. I love each and every one of you. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I leave you with a partial quote from the Dhammapada.
"Love Yourself and be awake- Today, Tommorow, Always...."
Humbly and with Utmost Sincerity,
Joshua Emmanuel Griggs
I do however have a mass in my abdomen that is 5.8cm (the size of a lime) that presses on the nerves in my back and causes me significant discomfort. It has been there since my initial diagnosis and for some reason will not respond to all of the different types of chemo that the doctors have thrown at it (and there have been a ton of different tyes of chemo, believe me).
The surgerical team in Baltimore said that they do not have a lot of experience with this particular type of surgery, retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, but the surgerical team at the New York hospital, Sloan Ketering, has one of the best teams in the country for this particular surgery. The surgeon in Baltimore said that because of where the mass is located his primary concern is that i will lose, 1 or both of my kidneys and would require lifelong dialysis, as a result of the surgery. My oncologist sent images of the mass to the team in New York and they feel confident that they can successfully remove the mass, with hopefully very few after effects.
It is a non-cancerous teratoma at the moment, but in time could become a more severe form of cancer. I returned to work the first week of November, 1 month after my 2nd bone marrow transplant and have been working full time since my return. This trip to New York was something that they had mentioned in the past but was more of an idea than a definite plan, but when i got the call this past Friday that they would like me to come up there next Thursday, 10/01/15, for an initial consult with their surgerical team, i did not hesitate to accept. At this point, surgery is my last viable option, outside of more of the same chemo, which as i mentioned before has not been very effective in eliminating this threat to my body. I am asking for everyone's help once again to assist me with offsetting the cost of this unforeseen expense. I know that i will at minimum be required to make the trip twice, once for the initial consult and then again for the actual surgery (if all goes well and they can pull it off, crossing my fingers) but drawing from my rather vast experience with hospitals, it will more than likely take several trips back and forth. I mapped it out and the trip itself is a little over 160 miles one way, which is not too bad, but i have to traverse the New Jersey Turnpike and New York traffic so my plan is to get a cheap hotel somewhere near the hospital and head down the night before, this is mostly to avoid having a heart attack trying to make it to my appointment on time.
I appreciate everything that each and every one of you has done for me and my family as we have been going through these difficult times. It has not been easy on any them, but thanks to the beautiful generosity of individuals like yourselves, it has helped to alleviate the financial aspects of this burden.
One thing i have learned throughout my almost 2 year struggle with cancer, getting diagnosed, then going in remission, relapsing back, remission again, all of the ups and downs of chemo and the hospitals and the medication and their side effects, all of it, the whole sha-bang....none of it matters; when you look around at what is "supposed" to be the prime of your life, your mid 20s and im weak, sick, lying in a hospital bed, i stop and i realize....... that this is where i am at the moment. There was no where else that i was meant to be than right here, right now. This is merely one moment in a book of everpassing memories. I am loved. I have all of my family, alive, well, and with me. I have my loving friends. I have a good job. I am still here. Living! Breathing! Typing on a crowd funding website!
I have learned how to just be. Thats it. Live and enjoy the moment that you have, right here, right now because you cannot know when it will be your time to be no more. I love each and every one of you. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I leave you with a partial quote from the Dhammapada.
"Love Yourself and be awake- Today, Tommorow, Always...."
Humbly and with Utmost Sincerity,
Joshua Emmanuel Griggs
Organizer
Joshua Griggs
Organizer
Baltimore, MD
