Battling and Recovering from Cancer (Help Josiah)

Hello Everyone,

Most of you may not know, but my brother Josiah was diagnosed with cancer back in February very unexpectedly.

Let me give you a little bit of background about my brother and his journey so far and who he is as a person.

Josiah is the 3rd oldest and 1st boy out of all 5 of us. He is a kind soul who knows how to make you laugh when you don't feel up to it. Josiah was president of the class of 2019 at Fitchburg High and was accepted to Clark University in Worcester MA. He wanted to be a teacher and help kids who have struggled the way he did throughout his high school experience.

In July 2021, he moved into an off-campus apartment with some of his friends and became financially independent. In September 2022, Josiah got his first car and started a new job as a paraeducator at Wachusett Regional High School, where he helped students one-on-one with their work.

On Feburary 9th, 2023, Josiah was referred to the Emergency Room after a medical examination. At the ER, they found that he had a tumor and within a week he had his first unexpected surgery on 2/16/23 to remove the tumor. As he was recovering from the surgery, Josiah had to take unpaid leave of absence. He didn't meet the requirements to apply for MA PFML or short term disabiltiy because he hadn't been employed there long enough.

On April 1st, Josiah's post-surgery CAT scan results showed that the cancer had spread to his abdomen and already had begun to affect three lymph nodes. At this point, the doctors gave him the options of waiting longer to see if the lymph nodes continued to grow, starting chemotherapy, or undergoing surgery to remove the lymph nodes instead of chemo. Josiah choose to move forward with the surgery so that he could go back to work and avoid the negative effects of chemo.

On May 1st, the doctors removed 24 lymph nodes and 6 of them tested positive for cancer, which went beyond the oncologists' expectations. Concerned by how fast it had spread, the doctors recommeneded he start chemotheraphy as a preventative measure.

On June 12th, Josiah started his 1st round of chemotheraphy and as I write this today 7/3/23, he has begun his 2nd round of chemo. He has been out of work this entire period and unfortunately drained his whole savings. This GoFundMe is to support Josiah and help him get back on his feet, pay for his medical bills, and get a head start to resume life as it was 5 months ago.

This money will go toward ensuring he can make it to his oncology appointments, as well as his medical bills, rent, and other bills that he can't pay until the chemotherapy ends and he can go back to work.