Fighting a Courageous Fight
Donation protected
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Living a Courageous Life
Nearly a year ago, Jake Dibel began to understand what it means to dig deep inside and find the strength and courage to face one day at a time. Jake began feeling poorly a month before graduating from high school. At the end of June he was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma based on swollen lymph nodes. It was only after a biopsy that the doctors diagnosed Jake with stage 4 testicular cancer. Devastatingly, the cancer had spread to his lungs, liver and lymph nodes. Jake immediately began strong chemotherapy and with great disappointment needed to delay beginning college at the University of Iowa.
He fought long and hard with many rounds of chemotherapy and a risky and delicate surgery in October to remove abdominal lymph nodes. A portion of one tumor removed had grown between the vena cava (main vein) and aorta (main artery), which led to some risky and scary moments during the surgery. After the surgery and recovery, pathological reports showed no actively growing cancer. Jake was cautiously excited to begin classes in January at U of I. He knew he would need to continue to have scans to monitor any possible return of the cancer.
Heartbreaking News
Jake and his team of doctors later learned cancer remained in the nodes in his neck that were resistant to the first line of treatment. His relapse was discovered during a routine scan on December 29th. This time Jake was faced with more chemotherapy, followed by a harvesting of his stem cells. He is currently on the wait list for a bed in the transplant unit. When the bed becomes available, Jake will be admitted for high dose chemotherapy to kill all of his bone marrow, followed by a stem cell transplant for which he will need to be hospitalized about a month. He will have only a few weeks to regain strength before repeating the entire process.
The Fight of His Life
Jake is fighting the fight of his life! In order to allow his parents and brothers to give all their energy and focus to helping Jake fight the cancer, we are hoping to raise funds to help off set the extremely high medical costs. Any gift you give is greatly appreciated and will mean the world to Jake and his family.
Jake, Jana (Mentzer), Kevin, Ben and Sam are extremely grateful and encouraged by those who have prayed for them and already given so much to help. We ask that you lift Jake in prayer for his ongoing strength and healing as he continues this journey.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Living a Courageous Life
Nearly a year ago, Jake Dibel began to understand what it means to dig deep inside and find the strength and courage to face one day at a time. Jake began feeling poorly a month before graduating from high school. At the end of June he was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma based on swollen lymph nodes. It was only after a biopsy that the doctors diagnosed Jake with stage 4 testicular cancer. Devastatingly, the cancer had spread to his lungs, liver and lymph nodes. Jake immediately began strong chemotherapy and with great disappointment needed to delay beginning college at the University of Iowa.
He fought long and hard with many rounds of chemotherapy and a risky and delicate surgery in October to remove abdominal lymph nodes. A portion of one tumor removed had grown between the vena cava (main vein) and aorta (main artery), which led to some risky and scary moments during the surgery. After the surgery and recovery, pathological reports showed no actively growing cancer. Jake was cautiously excited to begin classes in January at U of I. He knew he would need to continue to have scans to monitor any possible return of the cancer.
Heartbreaking News
Jake and his team of doctors later learned cancer remained in the nodes in his neck that were resistant to the first line of treatment. His relapse was discovered during a routine scan on December 29th. This time Jake was faced with more chemotherapy, followed by a harvesting of his stem cells. He is currently on the wait list for a bed in the transplant unit. When the bed becomes available, Jake will be admitted for high dose chemotherapy to kill all of his bone marrow, followed by a stem cell transplant for which he will need to be hospitalized about a month. He will have only a few weeks to regain strength before repeating the entire process.
The Fight of His Life
Jake is fighting the fight of his life! In order to allow his parents and brothers to give all their energy and focus to helping Jake fight the cancer, we are hoping to raise funds to help off set the extremely high medical costs. Any gift you give is greatly appreciated and will mean the world to Jake and his family.
Jake, Jana (Mentzer), Kevin, Ben and Sam are extremely grateful and encouraged by those who have prayed for them and already given so much to help. We ask that you lift Jake in prayer for his ongoing strength and healing as he continues this journey.
Organizer and beneficiary
Sara Schumacher Kepros
Organizer
Cedar Rapids, IA
John Dibel
Beneficiary