Laurie's cancer treatment & deck
Donation protected
Hi my name is Alexander Jackson. You can just call me Alex. I have set up this account for my wife Laurie.
On July 11, 2016 I took Laurie to the ER because she had been having trouble texting, typing, and getting her words out when talking. The night before I took her to the ER she starting slurring her words. The ER treated her as if she was having a stroke. They did a CT scan and that is when our world got turned upside down. They told us the CT showed a 3cm mass on the left side of her brain and they would be transferring and admitting her. We were at the St Josephs in Wentzville. Turns out they are a psyc hospital. That is ok because the ER staff there are the most amazing people. Laurie was transferred to St Josephs in St Charles. That was on Monday evening. The next day they did CT's of her body from the pelvis up, to make sure there were no other masses. There were none and the mass was deemed a primary tumor (at least they were thinking it was a tumor at that time). Once the CT results were in the neuro surgeon came to talk to us. Next thing we know Laurie is being scheduled for a craniotomy for Thursday morning. During this time Laurie is having neurological checks done every hour. On Monday the mass was just affecting her speech, on Tues it was causing weakness in her right arm, on Wed it was causing weakness in her right leg. Laurie went into surgery Thursday morning. When the surgeon came out he told me the tumor was larger then a golf ball. Yup it grew that fast - from 3 cm on Monday to larger then a golf ball on Thursday. He also told me it looked to be a high grade (meaning a grade 4) glioma. We would not get the official name until the path report came back - it was a grade 4 GBM, gliomablastoma multiforme. The most deadly of the brain tumors. There went our world upside down again. We were told by the surgeon that the tumor will return and by the oncologist that eventually treatments will stop working. The oncologist at the hospital said her best treatment plan would be for him to refer her to Siteman Cancer Center in St Louis. He refered her to Dr Campian who is a neuro oncologist who specializes in GBMs.
On July 30th Laurie was released from the rehabilitation hospital, just 2 day shy of 3 weeks since her admintance to St Josephs. I stayed at the hospitals the whole time making sure Laurie was never alone.
On Aug 8th Laurie had her first appointment with Dr Campian. We found out about her treatment. She will be doing radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and at the same time she will be taking a chemo pill 7 days a week. Her first treatment is Aug 24th. At the end of this treatment she will get a 4 week rest. She will then start what they call a 28 day cycle. She will take chemo pills for 5 days and then rest for 23 days. Each time the strength of the chemo will be increased. She will do this for 6 months. During this time there will be numerous MRIs and visits to the doctor. It was also at this visit that we found out that Laurie's tumor is the type that does not react well to chemo. Oops there goes our world upside down again.
That pretty much brings it to why I am here. We are an hour from Siteman. It will take about 2 and 1/2 tanks of gas a week to get Laurie to her first round of treatments. It takes about 1/2 a tank to go there and back home. Laurie and I are a very fixed income. Laurie is on disability for other issues (cripple foot, major depression, anxiety), and I have been on Canadian disability for half of my adult life ( myalgic encephalomyelitis). Right now we lose quite a bit to the exchange rate. We were barely covering our expenses before this. We have used up any savings we had from Laurie's disability back pay. I had to replace the front step/deck so that Laurie would have a safe way into our home (since her walking has been affected).
So I am asking for this money for 2 purposes. One is to help with the added expenses of Laurie's treatments now and in the future. Laurie does have medical insurance but we do not know yet how much of her treatments will be covered and how much we may have to pay for. The second is to build Laurie a deck off of our back door. A place where she can go out each day and see the sky, the grass, the trees, hear the birds. A healing place for her. She has always wanted a wrap around deck and I was going to save and build her one next summer. I will not be able to save enough to do that or even just a small deck with the new expenses we have. I am not asking for a large deck, just one that Laurie can easily walk out on to and spend time in the fresh air. Laurie is a writer and this tumor took some of that away from her. She has slowly been working at being able to do her blog again, and has done a few short ones. The deck will be an ideal place to work on that.
This has been the hardest thing ever for me to do. Asking for help is not something that comes easy for me. I am doing this for Laurie because she is an amazing woman. She knows the battle had of her and she is facing it head on and with determination. We only met 5 yrs ago and married 3 yrs ago June 29th. We have had a short time together but it has been the most amazing time of my life. I would do anything for her. We don't know how much more time we have together, but we will cherish every minute of it.
I humbly thank every single person who reads this, whether or not you help. We are so deeply grateful for any and all help we receive.
I would like to say that if you are not able to donate here but can help with the deck in other ways, please let me know. All help is welcome, whether it be labor, material, or getting the permits.
Thank you so very much and God bless.
This was Laurie's first visit with radiology. She saw the radiology oncologist and then got her radiation mask made. The mask goes over her face and head and then gets bolted to the table. They also did a simulation of the radiation treatment and an MRI.
This is the view Laurie would have off of the deck.
On July 11, 2016 I took Laurie to the ER because she had been having trouble texting, typing, and getting her words out when talking. The night before I took her to the ER she starting slurring her words. The ER treated her as if she was having a stroke. They did a CT scan and that is when our world got turned upside down. They told us the CT showed a 3cm mass on the left side of her brain and they would be transferring and admitting her. We were at the St Josephs in Wentzville. Turns out they are a psyc hospital. That is ok because the ER staff there are the most amazing people. Laurie was transferred to St Josephs in St Charles. That was on Monday evening. The next day they did CT's of her body from the pelvis up, to make sure there were no other masses. There were none and the mass was deemed a primary tumor (at least they were thinking it was a tumor at that time). Once the CT results were in the neuro surgeon came to talk to us. Next thing we know Laurie is being scheduled for a craniotomy for Thursday morning. During this time Laurie is having neurological checks done every hour. On Monday the mass was just affecting her speech, on Tues it was causing weakness in her right arm, on Wed it was causing weakness in her right leg. Laurie went into surgery Thursday morning. When the surgeon came out he told me the tumor was larger then a golf ball. Yup it grew that fast - from 3 cm on Monday to larger then a golf ball on Thursday. He also told me it looked to be a high grade (meaning a grade 4) glioma. We would not get the official name until the path report came back - it was a grade 4 GBM, gliomablastoma multiforme. The most deadly of the brain tumors. There went our world upside down again. We were told by the surgeon that the tumor will return and by the oncologist that eventually treatments will stop working. The oncologist at the hospital said her best treatment plan would be for him to refer her to Siteman Cancer Center in St Louis. He refered her to Dr Campian who is a neuro oncologist who specializes in GBMs.
On July 30th Laurie was released from the rehabilitation hospital, just 2 day shy of 3 weeks since her admintance to St Josephs. I stayed at the hospitals the whole time making sure Laurie was never alone.
On Aug 8th Laurie had her first appointment with Dr Campian. We found out about her treatment. She will be doing radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and at the same time she will be taking a chemo pill 7 days a week. Her first treatment is Aug 24th. At the end of this treatment she will get a 4 week rest. She will then start what they call a 28 day cycle. She will take chemo pills for 5 days and then rest for 23 days. Each time the strength of the chemo will be increased. She will do this for 6 months. During this time there will be numerous MRIs and visits to the doctor. It was also at this visit that we found out that Laurie's tumor is the type that does not react well to chemo. Oops there goes our world upside down again.
That pretty much brings it to why I am here. We are an hour from Siteman. It will take about 2 and 1/2 tanks of gas a week to get Laurie to her first round of treatments. It takes about 1/2 a tank to go there and back home. Laurie and I are a very fixed income. Laurie is on disability for other issues (cripple foot, major depression, anxiety), and I have been on Canadian disability for half of my adult life ( myalgic encephalomyelitis). Right now we lose quite a bit to the exchange rate. We were barely covering our expenses before this. We have used up any savings we had from Laurie's disability back pay. I had to replace the front step/deck so that Laurie would have a safe way into our home (since her walking has been affected).
So I am asking for this money for 2 purposes. One is to help with the added expenses of Laurie's treatments now and in the future. Laurie does have medical insurance but we do not know yet how much of her treatments will be covered and how much we may have to pay for. The second is to build Laurie a deck off of our back door. A place where she can go out each day and see the sky, the grass, the trees, hear the birds. A healing place for her. She has always wanted a wrap around deck and I was going to save and build her one next summer. I will not be able to save enough to do that or even just a small deck with the new expenses we have. I am not asking for a large deck, just one that Laurie can easily walk out on to and spend time in the fresh air. Laurie is a writer and this tumor took some of that away from her. She has slowly been working at being able to do her blog again, and has done a few short ones. The deck will be an ideal place to work on that.
This has been the hardest thing ever for me to do. Asking for help is not something that comes easy for me. I am doing this for Laurie because she is an amazing woman. She knows the battle had of her and she is facing it head on and with determination. We only met 5 yrs ago and married 3 yrs ago June 29th. We have had a short time together but it has been the most amazing time of my life. I would do anything for her. We don't know how much more time we have together, but we will cherish every minute of it.
I humbly thank every single person who reads this, whether or not you help. We are so deeply grateful for any and all help we receive.
I would like to say that if you are not able to donate here but can help with the deck in other ways, please let me know. All help is welcome, whether it be labor, material, or getting the permits.
Thank you so very much and God bless.
This was Laurie's first visit with radiology. She saw the radiology oncologist and then got her radiation mask made. The mask goes over her face and head and then gets bolted to the table. They also did a simulation of the radiation treatment and an MRI.
This is the view Laurie would have off of the deck.
Organizer
Alexander Jackson
Organizer
Washington, MO
