Martin Strong

Hi everyone! My name is Britney Martin, Zach Martin's sister. First and foremost, my family and I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for all the love and support that we have received these past 9 months.

For those of you that don't know, 9 months ago Zach was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma. A very rare bone cancer that is typically found in children. Zach is employed as a NC Highway Patrol State Trooper and is married to his wonderful wife, Ginny. They have to 2 handsome little boys, who are 8 an 2 years old.

On January 18th he started his fight and began his first round of chemo. Just a few days later on January 23, Zach simply rolled over in bed and broke his femur which required immediate surgery. During surgery, a large tumor was removed from his hip area and a metal rod was placed in his leg. After countless hours of physical therapy, he is able to walk again without any assistance. Zach continued to receive chemo and he finished that successfully then he started radiation treatments that were Monday-Friday for about 2 months. Unfortunately, the doctors had to stop radiation treatment sooner than they would have liked due to some complications that continued to appear. The plan going forward was Zach would have scans every 3 months for the next 2-3 years so the doctors would be able to keep a close watch on his cancer. Just 2-3 weeks after finishing radiation, Zach had his first scans and it was not at all what we would expect. His cancer had already spread to his shoulder, rib and the back of his sternum. He still has cancer showing in his back and pelvis area, but those areas have shrank drastically. His next round of chemo will start back on September 11th at Duke.

We all have been wanting to get a second opinion, especially after receiving the results that he just did. Zach just received the news that we were all hoping for, he has an appointment at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas November 6. They both have a lot of travel ahead of them and are close to exhausting all of their PTO (accumulated and donated). They have enough stress on them as is and my family and I would like to try and take some of that off of them. Any help towards travel expenses, medical bills, everyday necessities , etc. would be greatly appreciated. Please continue to pray for comfort and healing for Zach. Again, we can't thank everyone enough for all of your love, support, prayers and help during this time.