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<div>Hi all, I am Kerrie, David's sister.
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<div>I am reaching out to tell you my brother's story and how cancer can change people's life in a heartbeat.
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<div>David and his wife Megan live in Bismarck. David is a Graphic Designer and Megan works for a non-profit organization. They both work full time and give of their time and talent to the recovery community in the Bismarck/Mandan area with their enormous hearts. Often only seeing each other for an hour or so per day during the week.
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<div>Christmas Day, I called my brother to wish him and Megan a "Merry Christmas". My brother was not his cheerful self and I knew he didn't sound right, call it an an older sister's instinct. He called me once I returned from our trip, saying he didn't want to put a damper on our vacation, he proceeded to tell me that he had found a lump, roughly the size of a walnut, on his neck after testing positive for COVID. He had seen his Primary Doctor on Dec. 14th and was told to just watch it for a couple weeks. David returned to the walk-in clinic on Dec. 23rd. The walk-in Doctor sent him immediately to the hospital for an ultrasound. Findings from the ultrasound were “concerning”. Which led to a CT scan the following Tuesday. David had to advocate for himself, politely pushing back in asking how quickly he could have the CT scan. CT scans came back “worrisome”. This led to a biopsy which was “suspicious” and a pet scan.
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<div>Pet scan showed hot spots on base of tongue and left neck lymph nodes. During this whole time David was full of fear and scared of the uncertainty of all the unanswered questions.
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<div>On Jan. 19th, David was diagnosed with Oropharyngeal cancer or throat cancer. This was such a blow to him as we lost our mother to Esophageal Cancer in 2012. To him and Megan, days felt like months, standing in the unknown. His wife spoke these words to him - "If it’s not cancer then waiting won’t matter. If it is cancer, our world is going to be
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<div>turned upside down so we may as well get good and present, enjoy this time because things could change quickly &amp; drastically.” If we all only knew how quickly and drastically that change would be. So with some luck, God, friends and favors, all were used to find answers as quickly as possible. He and Megan had some big decisions to make. After some research and prayer, it was decided that he would have surgery then radiation. His Radiation Oncologist served David some reality by telling him that “while we are trying to save you, it is going to feel like we are trying to kill you". All of that was so much more closer to the truth than we ever would imagine. Plans were made, faster than normal, dates were set. David had to be in Fargo for the surgery to remove lymph nodes in his neck and a portion on the base of his tongue on February 12th. He was told 3-5 days in the hospital. He spent 7 days in the hospital -most in ICU due to the risk of bleeding because the surgeon had to remove more on the base of his tongue than anticipated. He was released on Feb. 19th . A longer stay than what was expected. He and Megan went back home to Bismarck and to their two pups - Hazard and Hazel. The stay at home was not long however, on Feb. 25th - David is back in the ER with sharp, stabbing pain on his left side. He was told he has blood clots in his lungs from his surgery and as a result he was admitted to the hospital. It went from bad to worse - developed pneumonia and spending 8 days in the hospital. David experienced extreme pain during this stay with the blood clots. He was explained that the pain of having the blood clots in his lungs was worse that when he had a heart attack or the surgery itself. Begging, crying, and pleading with the nurses to help him with the pain of blood clots making his lungs spasm out of control. They had to sedate him to the point he has no recollection of anything from late Sunday night to Thursday. Thank God Megan reached out to his surgeon in Fargo to inform him of these newest complications. His surgeon immediately reached out and demanded that David be put on a very specific blood thinner. This action by his wife and the surgeon could very well have saved his life. On Mar. 5th, excited and happy to finally be out of the hospital, after spending almost
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<div>half a month confined - David goes home. This is short lived however, he returns to the ER after spitting up blood - 11 hours after he was released. The blood thinner used to help the clots, is creating bleeding in his incision sites. David is admitted again to the hospital. That specific blood
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<div>thinner that his surgeon told them to put him on was a blood thinner that could quickly be reversed in case of bleeding. There they were, staring directly into the “what if” scenario. The doctors were able to reverse the effects of that blood thinner and were able to stop the bleeding. He sure took his doctors for a ride and Megan advocated for him every step of the way. March 7th, he had a procedure done to put a filter in the inferior vena cava (IVC). This is done to catch
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<div>any blood clots if they were to break off and travel. The remainder of the days in the hospital were spent figuring out the balance of keeping blood thin enough to not let new clots form and thick enough to not cause the incisions to start bleeding again. The lead doctor explained to
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<div>David, “What is going on here, we are in uncharted territory. There are not protocols or guidelines for us to follow. We are just doing the best we know how.” At one point David turned to his wife and said, “It hits you differently when you realize that on the list of things that can kill you cancer is only number 4 on the list, there are 3 other things trying to kill you faster than the cancer is.” A true but heartbreaking reality.
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<div>David was set to discharge on March 10th when he woke up with a cramp in his leg. Further investigation revealed another blood clot. The time they had hoped to buy of blood thinners for the surgical site to heal was short lived. David was finally discharged on March 13th.
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<div>Weakened, worn, and tired. He has lost 30 pounds throughout this ordeal. He spent a total of 24 days in the hospital to date. With no time to spare, he needs to try to heal and build his strength back up because he will need 6 weeks of radiation daily Monday through Friday. He currently is only able to work a couple hours a day here and there. He has used all his sick and vacation paid time off. His wife has used up her time off so she could be by his side to support him. As you can imagine, between medical and living expenses, it will be difficult for he and Megan to
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<div>make ends meet during this time of treatment and recovery. Please join me in helping this tremendous couple, who give much of themselves to help other people, help now.
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Malinda Althoff

Malinda Althoff

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