Fred's Battle with Cancer
Donation protected
We are fundraising for our friend Fred who is in a dire battle with bladder cancer that is quickly spreading throughout his body, and is now also in his pelvis, spine, liver, kidney, lungs, and lymph nodes.
On July 6, 2016 Fred and his wife Rita received the difficult news of Fred's official diagnosis -- bladder cancer. They met with a urological oncologist in early August and a plan was put into place to remove his bladder. It was felt the cancer was at Stage I. At the time of the appointment it was noted that Fred was very ill appearing and a blood test confirmed he had a raging infection that had turned to sepsis and he was hospitalized to be treated.
During that hospitalization a PET scan was performed and results showed the cancer has metastasized to the bone in the pelvis and spine, the liver, the kidney, the lungs, and lymph nodes. In this very short period of time Fred went to from Stage I to Stage IV.
Fred has lost much of his strength and mental faculties. Fred is a paraplegic and can no longer drive the family's 2-door vehicle with hand-controls and needs to be transported in a van with a lift. There are few services of this nature in their town and they are very expensive. Many of the services are geared towards Medicaid patients and are only for the local area and do not travel from Pueblo to Colorado Springs where Fred's doctors are. The ones that do are extremely expensive. Renting a lift van is also expensive and not always available.
(Just to put it in real numbers -- to rent a lift van, Rita has to drive to Colorado Springs to pick it up. The van costs $125 per day to rent, plus $80 to $170 in mileage depending on whether they are seeing his doctors in Colorado Springs or Denver. To do non-emergency medical transport, it costs $600 round trip to Colorado Springs, plus $6.50 per mile.)
Fred has seen multiple oncologists. The third and most recent oncologist explained that, because the cancer has metastasized to so many regions throughout Fred's body, the cancer is incurable. Without treatment, the doctor explained that his life expectancy is two months. With treatment, he may have a year.
They faced the difficult decision -- prepare for hospice care or fight the difficult fight. Fred made the choice to fight!
A schedule is in place for chemo treatments, but Fred has to undergo blood work before each session to be cleared for treatment. As I type this, Fred is struggling with his kidney levels, which may jeopardize his next round of chemo.
Fred's medical treatments are expensive and health insurance just does not even begin to cover the costs. We are requesting your donation ASAP -- whatever your heart and wallet can spare would be so gratefully appreciated to aid Fred in this difficult fight.
Fred retired as a federal agent with the Treasury Department in 2011, and survived a catastrophic illness in 2013 that left him hospitalized for several months. He and his wife Rita have been friends for 25 years, and married for 19 of those. They live with a very vocal cat who sings like her namesake Mariah.
So that Rita and Fred can focus on his treatments and their time together, we are generating this GoFundMe for them. But rest assured, every cent we raise is going straight to our dear friends. Thank you again for your generous support.
With love and gratitude,
Jeni and Dean
On July 6, 2016 Fred and his wife Rita received the difficult news of Fred's official diagnosis -- bladder cancer. They met with a urological oncologist in early August and a plan was put into place to remove his bladder. It was felt the cancer was at Stage I. At the time of the appointment it was noted that Fred was very ill appearing and a blood test confirmed he had a raging infection that had turned to sepsis and he was hospitalized to be treated.
During that hospitalization a PET scan was performed and results showed the cancer has metastasized to the bone in the pelvis and spine, the liver, the kidney, the lungs, and lymph nodes. In this very short period of time Fred went to from Stage I to Stage IV.
Fred has lost much of his strength and mental faculties. Fred is a paraplegic and can no longer drive the family's 2-door vehicle with hand-controls and needs to be transported in a van with a lift. There are few services of this nature in their town and they are very expensive. Many of the services are geared towards Medicaid patients and are only for the local area and do not travel from Pueblo to Colorado Springs where Fred's doctors are. The ones that do are extremely expensive. Renting a lift van is also expensive and not always available.
(Just to put it in real numbers -- to rent a lift van, Rita has to drive to Colorado Springs to pick it up. The van costs $125 per day to rent, plus $80 to $170 in mileage depending on whether they are seeing his doctors in Colorado Springs or Denver. To do non-emergency medical transport, it costs $600 round trip to Colorado Springs, plus $6.50 per mile.)
Fred has seen multiple oncologists. The third and most recent oncologist explained that, because the cancer has metastasized to so many regions throughout Fred's body, the cancer is incurable. Without treatment, the doctor explained that his life expectancy is two months. With treatment, he may have a year.
They faced the difficult decision -- prepare for hospice care or fight the difficult fight. Fred made the choice to fight!
A schedule is in place for chemo treatments, but Fred has to undergo blood work before each session to be cleared for treatment. As I type this, Fred is struggling with his kidney levels, which may jeopardize his next round of chemo.
Fred's medical treatments are expensive and health insurance just does not even begin to cover the costs. We are requesting your donation ASAP -- whatever your heart and wallet can spare would be so gratefully appreciated to aid Fred in this difficult fight.
Fred retired as a federal agent with the Treasury Department in 2011, and survived a catastrophic illness in 2013 that left him hospitalized for several months. He and his wife Rita have been friends for 25 years, and married for 19 of those. They live with a very vocal cat who sings like her namesake Mariah.
So that Rita and Fred can focus on his treatments and their time together, we are generating this GoFundMe for them. But rest assured, every cent we raise is going straight to our dear friends. Thank you again for your generous support.
With love and gratitude,
Jeni and Dean
Organizer and beneficiary
Jeni DeCamp McCaughan
Organizer
Pueblo, CO
Rita Ramos
Beneficiary