Ray's Cancer Battle and Hope for a Journey Home

Hello, my name is Roxanne Dickerson-Robin and I am the sister of Raymond Dickerson. Ray is a proud father of 3 adult kids and 2 grandkids. He lives his life giving back to the community, as he a former Thibodaux Police Officer, Lafourche Parish Sheriff, Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel that has served in numerous deployments ranging from locations in Panama, Honduras, Egypt, Germany, just to name a few; additionally, he loved his opportunity to engage in numerous Stateside Operations. Ray is a local leader in his St. Luke Catholic Church Community. He is a published musician that has performed at venues both locally and nationwide. As a musician, he wrote a song for his Mama entitled, "A Song for Mama '' , dedicated music to his children, used his music to address social activism as well as served the Lord through his musical talents. His talents span from not only writing and producing music, but also to playing the guitar. His music can be found on Spotify or Apple Music by searching Raymond Dickerson, Command and Control. In 2017, he had the pleasure of performing on the Bobby Jones Gospel Show and recently had the opportunity to collaborate with renowned musicians.

On 30 November 2020, Ray received the news that no one wants to receive; he was told that he had pancreatic cancer. When Ray shared the devastating news with his family, he never allowed the diagnosis to dismay his positive spirits as he believed that with his Faith in God, Prayers, healthy choices, love and support of family and friends and the best medical care, that he would beat the odds and beat the cancer.

As a family, although we did not like the diagnosis, we thought it was a miracle that Ray's pancreatic cancer was detected so early. In fact, when he had a consultation with the medical team at MD Anderson, he was told that he was within the rare 5% of patients that are eligible for the Whipple Procedure, which was a surgery to remove the cancer. Being the fighter that he was, Ray drove himself from Louisiana to Texas every 2-3 weeks to receive the recommended chemotherapy treatment that was the recommended chemotherapy regime that was needed to break down any possible unseen cancer cells, prior to the Whipple. Due to unforeseen circumstances with the cancer, the medical team at MD Anderson became hesitant about proceeding with the Whipple Procedure. Ray, choosing to be the leader of his health, was determined to get the cancer out of his body. Consequently, Ray opted to receive a 2nd opinion from the Medical Professionals at Johns Hopkins. Upon a review of Ray's medical profile and numerous exams and scans, Ray received the news that he prayed for; he was advised that the cancer was localized and that there weren't any seen objections that would prevent the surgeon from performing the Whipple. This was welcomed news, as Ray prayers and hopes involved him living with a body that was cancer free. He didn't want to live the rest of his life on chemotherapy, as he wanted to live his life to the fullest and a life on chemotherapy would be restrictive of Ray's desired state of life. On 09 June 2021, Ray traveled from Louisiana to Maryland for the much anticipated Whipple Procedure surgery., which was performed on 15 June 2021. After discharge, Ray returned home for his much anticipated recovery. Ray pushed himself to yield the best recovery. He prayed, surrounded himself with loved ones, exercised and consumed healing foods and vitamins.

In September 2021, after being dislocated due to Hurricane Ida, Ray fought to find medical care to continue his chemotherapy as it began harder to receive treatment as the hospitals were also suffering with staff shortages and availability for the chemotherapy treatment.

In Ray's quest to live, Ray decided to return to Maryland for follow up visits and treatments. It was then that Ray was told that his cancer had metastasized and that his cancer tumors were evasive to the chemotherapy. Although this was another devastating blow, Ray still had hoped and sought additional options for treatment and care.

With the help of loved ones, Ray was informed of clinical trials that he may have been eligible for. Ray completed biopsies and testing and by the Grace of God, he was approved to be a part of a clinical trial for Pancreatic Cancer Treatment. Ray was scheduled to start the clinical trial treatment on 29 November 2021; however, after celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends, Ray suffered a stroke on 26 November 2021. Initially, it was believed or rather hoped that after rehabilitation, that Ray would be able to continue to be a part of the clinical trail and live as a cancer survivor; however, as Ray returned to the hospital due to a fall, it was determined that Ray had suffered additional strokes that had affected his ability to continue with rehabilitation, thus decreasing his capability to be a part of the pancreatic cancer clinical trial. This news is devastating and has hit his family hard, as they travel from near and far to be with him during this difficult time.

Ray is blessed to have been treated by such caring medical Heros and we are greatly appreciative for the staff from the VA Medical Hospitals, Oschner Hospital, MD Anderson, Johns Hopkins and most recently University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake. However, at this time, Ray's desire is to return to his home in Thibodaux, Louisiana. The fees from various medical transportation companies to transport Ray from Maryland to Louisiana are in excess of $10,000.00 , thus all funds raised will be used to cover all medical transportation expenses associated with transportation via a ground medical transportation company or if possible via Medevac, plus any additional unforeseen expenses incurred. We believe that Ray would feel most comfortable and at peace from the comfort of his home, surrounded by the community of friends and family that are eagerly awaiting his return to love and support him.