Frankie Atkin’s Stage 4 Liver Cancer Battle

Imagine sitting in your hospital bed and hearing these three words, “you’ve got cancer”. Now imagine your follow up appointment with a specialist and hearing the test results “you have stage 4 liver cancer and it’s also in your lymph nodes”. Our father, Frankie Atkins, has not been feeling well for the past few months. He has been in and out of the hospital since April, we knew something bigger was going on, but the reality of hearing stage 4 liver cancer is surreal. Meanwhile he was set to get married Sunday, May 15th. Starr Orsen and Frankie have been planning the big day for months and had approximately 400 guests coming to Lowcountry Celebrations Park. So as if the news of cancer wasn’t enough they had to make the decision to postpone the wedding.

Frankie was born and raised on Hilton Head Island- well technically he was born in Beaufort since there was not a hospital on the island until 1975! If you live on the island chances are you have called Frankie a time or two to bail you out of a situation- he is the guy you can call to fix anything!

We want our father to watch his grandkids graduate from high school and college, we want him to take them fishing, we want… there so many things we want to watch him do and we are ready to fight! He is fighting with all his strength so he can create more memories with us, his grandkids, Starr and all of you! Frankie will undergo treatments at MUSC. Unfortunately transplant and/or surgery are not options for him. Primarily he will be getting Immunotherapy. This is an infusion that helps his immune system fight cancer. His first scheduled treatment was Friday, May 27th and he has two more scheduled for June and July. The cycle includes a period of treatment followed by a period of rest. The rest period is imperative to give his body a chance to recover, respond to immunotherapy and build new healthy cells. We are trying to deal with the news while learning as much as possible about this specific type of cancer. We have spent countless hours researching not only what can be done at MUSC but also alternative medicine and diet. These things combined are not inexpensive options. Unfortunately, healthcare only covers so much and the other costs and out of pocket expenses are mounting quickly. We have a very long road ahead but we are committed to providing the best environment to get his quality of life back for as long as we can. We are hoping to help alleviate his financial stress due to testing, treatments, appointments with his amazing team of doctors at MUSC, medications, etc. We are working to get him disability but if you have ever had the unfortunate experience with that it takes time! We are humbly asking for help- It’s time to give back to Frankie and if you are still reading you may be one of the people who called our dad with a “911 issue”- chances are he came right over and either fixed it or patched it up until he could get the necessary equipment. Our father embodies community and paying it forward. There are countless stories we have heard over the years when we meet his friends- your dad came over at midnight to get my air conditioning unit working, your dad dropped everything to fix my overflowing toilet, your dad came over first thing in the morning to fix my leaking sink… you get the drift and probably have your own story to tell! Please consider donating what you can to help Frankie with his fight. Any donation you can afford is greatly appreciated, there is no such thing as too little! If you don’t feel comfortable donating here Tiffany’s Venmo is @Tiffany-Lauren-5

Much love,

Tiffany, Ashley, Starr and Family