Cancer Can't Stop Casey

Hello my name is Teresa Walbrink...

I am asking for prayer and financial support for my cousin Casey Garritano who has been diagnosed with Vocal cord cancer.

“It’s cancer” is not what you are expecting to hear when you are 42, a father of two small kids, still settling into the second year of your dream teaching job, and having multiple band gigs book.

Hearing you might never talk again is even more shocking, but that’s what Casey Garritano was being told in mid-September after a biopsy. After multiple scopes, scans, and tests Casey was given the official diagnosis of Stage 3 Cancer of the Right Vocal Cord with spread to a Lymph Node in his neck and a possibly-related mass next to his spine. He had seen multiple ENTs over the years, but cancer was not suspected, just GERD and post-nasal drip. Baffled why he was not getting better, his last ENT sent him to a Vocal Cord specialist and within one visit a biopsy was scheduled and a diagnosis was then confirmed.

In order to save his voice and his life, Casey and his wife, Courtney decided to seek treatment at City of Hope. Comforted by the compassion, humanity, and speed of scheduling treatment the Garritanos felt confident in the “cure” the doctors at the City of Hope were speaking of. In November treatments began. Casey endured Chemotherapy once a week for 6 weeks and Radiation 5 days a week for 7 weeks. He powered through despite the neuropathy in his hands and feet, the loss of his sense of taste, losing too much weight, constant nausea, radiation burns to his neck, insomnia and FATIGUE! If you know Casey, you know he doesn’t just sit on the couch and usually has himself triple booked, so to see him falling asleep on the couch mid-day was significant…good thing it was football season. He put on a good show in public, showing off his normal energetic personality, still playing band gigs (without singing), but he was so tired when he got home and would be wiped out for days after. He tried to keep working at the high school as much as possible, but the daily treatments and appointments caused him to miss a lot of hours on the clock and a lot of wages. And by December he couldn’t work at all…even though he pushed through for an extra week for his students and their Christmas production.

Courtney did her best to keep everything at home as normal as possible for their 2 children. Still working full-time, she managed all the daily household tasks, shuttled the kids to their activities, and managed Casey’s appointments and treatment schedules (he couldn’t speak to make phone calls himself). And still is! They were both SO grateful for the number of prayers offered, comforting words and offers of help with dinners or babysitting. They thought they could manage it all on their own shoulders and neither one wanted to burden anyone else with their problem, but the FINANCIAL BURDEN has become too much. Casey continues IV hydration appointments and Speech Therapy while waiting until April when a scan will reveal if the treatment worked, or if surgery and other treatment options are still needed. Casey and the Garritanos have gone through a lot, but the fight is not over yet.

They need our HELP! Please keep Casey and his whole family in your prayers. Any financial support you can give will be greatly appreciated. There are multiple bills still not paid from the lack of wages and extremely high medical bills. It would benefit them tremendously.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration to donating to Casey.

Blessings to all of you~

Teresa