Dave Felicelli Cancer Medical Expenses

Hi, my name is Diana and I have been friends with the Felicelli’s for about 15 years. As many of you know Dave Felicelli recently had a crainiotomy to remove a brain tumor and is waiting discharge from Spectrum Health Hospital.

Dave’s journey with kidney cancer started in 2018, when he thought he may be passing a kidney stone but it turned out to be a tumor in his right kidney. His kidney was removed in March of that year and he was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. What was originally thought to be stage one, a few months later became stage four due to metastases to the lung and lymph nodes. This was inoperable so Dave began immunotherapy (similar to chemo). This was helping these tumors shrink and all was well for awhile. But one of these drugs was toxic to Dave, causing colitis and a diabetic ketoacidosis which landed him in the ICU for a week in spring of 2019. He eventually went back to only the milder immunotherapy drug but a lung tumor eventually started growing again. At this point, it was realized the immunotherapy was no longer working. Dave had radiation on this tumor and all was well for awhile. But then he started having pain in his ankle and after troubleshooting, it was learned the kidney cancer now spread to his right tibia (shin bone). He had surgery and radiation for this in spring 2021. 

Since then, Dave’s scans have been mostly clear. A couple small lung lesions that were remaining stagnant. 

But towards the end of 2021 and into this year, Dave has become weaker, his gait changed, his breathing got worse. During this time, he retired from being a chemist, opting for a less stressful job of driving for Lyft and enjoying more time with the family. And then recently, his body really slowed down. Dave hasn’t been able to work and has just been sleeping 16-20 hours a day. He was having bad headaches. On Wednesday May 25, Dave’s wife, Beth called his oncologist and they ordered a brain MRI as soon as possible. He learned that night that he had a 5cm tumor on his right temporal lobe of his brain. The following morning, his oncologist sent him to the ER where he was to have a neurosurgery consult. He was transferred from Holland to Grand Rapids and had a craniotomy that Friday. They were told that even just a big sneeze could have caused a brain hemorrhage and they needed to operate right away. Dave handled the surgery well and is expected to be discharged soon. With all of that said all of these hospital visits and surgeries are slowly taking a toll on their family (mentally, physically,emotionally and monetarily) Many have asked how you can help. I asked both Dave and Beth if they would be okay with me setting up a GoFund me page. They were a little reluctant at first as they are not ones to ask for help.  With all that they have been going through Dave has not been able to work. Even with insurance there have been a lot of out of pocket bills that have been piling up. Thanks for considering donating.