Hunter's Medical Bills

Hunter's story began when a cab driver (Matt-dad) met a waitress (Amanda-mom) in 2002 when he sat down in her section at a local restaurant. By 2003, Matt and Amanda had married and bought their first home, welcoming Hunter on March 30th, 2005. Matt had several serious medical issues and complaints, but was never able to have a diagnosis of what was truly wrong until one night when fishing in April 2006, he fell and went to the ER where he was admitted and told that he had stage 3 of 3 multiple myelomas, a form of blood cancer that attacked the bones. He immediately began different chemotherapy regimens, but the cancer was the worst type possible to have in this form and was far too advanced. During this time, Hunter's mom, Amanda was pregnant with their second child, Alison who would be welcomed to their growing family in mid-September 2007. What should have been a time of celebration, was instead spent at the hospital. Alison was 3 days old when Matt was told that he had less than six months to live. He fought a valiant battle but succumbed to his cancer in 2009 at the age of 41, leaving Amanda 27, Hunter 3, and Alison 1.5 years old.

Five years later, in 2014 Amanda met Carl and they joined their families. One day Hunter was out on his mountain bike when he hit his shoulder on a tree trunk, once in the ER for his injury, he was told he had a malignant tumor that had ruptured in his left humerus. He went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, surgery to remove and replace his left humerus with a donor bone as well as additional chemotherapy and transfusions for the next year and a half. Fortunately, he was able to beat his cancer diagnosis, but had to continue with occupational therapy, secondary lymphoma of his left arm, and continued scans to ensure that cancer remained gone.

Hunter was able to enjoy his cancer-free diagnosis, until the summer of 2022 when the family received devastating news during a routine scan. The doctor found 2 spots on Hunter's lungs and continued to watch the progression - hoping that his cancer hadn't returned. After waiting and watching for several weeks it was determined that of the two new spots found, one was growing rapidly and had more than doubled in size within a six-week period. In mid-August, right before starting his senior year of high school, Hunter had to undergo a procedure to remove a section of his lung where the cancerous nodule was found. His surgeon was able to determine that his Osteosarcoma had returned (as it does in Osteosarcoma patients) this time in his lungs. At this time Hunter has elected to "save" his chemotherapy for a time that he may be in more need of it, as the side effects are severe and each type of chemo can only be given in certain lifetime doses. Hunter is continuing to receive follow-up care and scans from his surgical and oncology teams, and we are asking to help the family with ongoing costs, such as transportation, meals out, medical bills, a special adaptive bike for him to be able to ride a bike again, a rolling computer bag (and other adaptive equipment as needed), missed work as well as overall care for Hunter so they can focus on getting him the best care and to help take care of his sister when he is gone with mom to the hospital. Hunter is unable to receive the three chemotherapy drugs that he received during his first diagnosis, due to meeting that max and still working to ensure that he suffers no long-lasting effects, such as heart failure or hearing loss (some of which he has already sustained). All efforts, even positive thoughts are appreciated as this family continues to battle the fight to save Hunter and aid in his continued healing.

Thank you,

Erika Owen- friend and work colleague of Amanda's